Out of policy.
That’s how the Board of Police Commissioners (BOPC) ultimately ruled on the eight shots LAPD Officer Carlos Tovar fired at 30-year-old Travis Elster as he fled a pretextual traffic stop at Manchester and Figueroa on February 9, 2021.
The BOPC’s decision, the abridged summary of their findings says, was “based on the totality of the circumstances” and the belief “that an officer with similar training and experience as [Tovar] would not reasonably believe [Elster’s] actions presented an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury and that the use of deadly force would not be proportional, objectively reasonable, or necessary.”
On that specific issue, at least, the BOPC would have been hard-pressed to rule any other way.
The shooting took place after Tovar and a partner officer approached 30-year-old Travis Elster about being double-parked in a narrow lot outside a strip mall fast food restaurant. Elster had recognized it was a pretextual stop and fled the scene, carefully easing his vehicle around Tovar, who had initially positioned himself in front of the SUV. After stepping out of the way of the vehicle and despite not having seen a weapon in Elster’s hand, Tovar still fired off eight rounds at Elster as the SUV merged into rush hour traffic along Manchester Boulevard, just west of Figueroa....
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