Los Angeles area officer arrested for filing false report

 Posted on January 28, 2011 in Criminal Defense

A Los Angeles school police officer allegedly falsely reported a shooting last week. The Los Angeles Times reports that a senior LAPD official says the school officer's protective bullet-proof vest appeared to have been hit by a bullet. The officer reportedly suffered bruises to his chest. Los Angeles Police reportedly locked down a 7-square-mile area in response to the reported shooting.

Authorities say that the school officer has been booked on a felony charge of filing a false police report. The story that the use of a deadly weapon had occurred prompted a massive police response in the west San Fernando Valley last week.

The school officer had claimed that he confronted a man who was allegedly trying to break into cars on the El Camino Real High School Campus. He claimed his vest took a single bullet. He said he was knocked back by the impact of the bullet and hit his head in the alleged January 19 shooting.

More than 300 officers were involved in the massive manhunt for the alleged shooter. Nine area schools were placed on lock down to protect students from the alleged gunman. Police set up a dragnet as they searched for a suspect, described as a white male in his 40s, clad in a bomber type jacket and blue jeans.

Law enforcement attempted to quell community frustration over the massive manhunt due to the seriousness of the allegations. The lockdowns and road blocks in the 7-square mile area were defended as necessary to protect citizens from an alleged gunman who was thought to have shot an armed police officer.

Los Angeles police grew suspicious of the officer's story that he had been shot during the investigation of the incident. The bruising on the officer's chest reportedly raised questions in detective's minds as to whether the school officer had been shot by the alleged gunman, or whether he accidently shot himself and concocted the report of the shooting.

The Los Angeles Times reports law enforcement arrested the school officer Thursday night after he allegedly admitted to fabricating the story. The head of the Los Angeles Police Protective League reportedly says the entire case is an "embarrassment to law enforcement."

Source: The Los Angeles Times, "L.A. school officer faked shooting story, LAPD says," Joel Rubin, Andrew Blankstein 28 Jan 2011