… He had pulled out the phone in confusion as officers surrounded him as he walked to the corner store, responding to what turned out to be a false report of domestic violence one afternoon more than five years ago.
One of the officers thought White might have a gun, prompting him and several colleagues to start shooting. Bullets ripped into his legs and shoulder as he fell to the pavement — but he survived.
His shooting, around the corner from his South L.A. apartment building, was one of at least 38 in the last five years in which LAPD officers opened fire on someone who ended up being unarmed, according to a Times review of nearly 200 police shootings since 2018. …
Any cop who mistakes a phone for a gun, even once, should be disqualified from being a cop anywhere else in the future.