Was the Gardena police shooting of two unarmed men -- one fatally -- in 2013 justified?
That is the question many are asking after a judge ordered the release of a dramatic video Tuesday showing the incident.
The city paid $4.7 million to settle a federal lawsuit. But prosecutors decided not to charge the officers involved with wrongdoing, agreeing with the Gardena Police Department that the shooting was justified.
Police use-of-force experts were divided about whether the officers should have opened fire, but several questioned some of their tactics.
“It is hard to see what threat was posed to these officers,” said Geoffrey Alpert, a University of South Carolina professor of criminology who studies police tactics and shootings.