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POST board decertifies two LAPD officers over 2021 shooting after body‑worn video review
Summary
The Peace Officer Standards Accountability Advisory Board voted to decertify Officers Jose Zavala and Julio Quintanilla after staff presented body‑worn video and an investigation concluding their use of deadly force on Dec. 18, 2021, was inconsistent with statutory limits and POST standards.
The Peace Officer Standards Accountability Advisory Board voted to decertify two Los Angeles Police Department officers after hearing a staff presentation of body‑worn video and investigative findings that the officers’ actions met POST’s definition of serious misconduct.
Law enforcement consultant Dave Cyber told the board the division’s review determined “clear and convincing evidence exists to demonstrate that Officer Zavala and Officer Quintanilla committed an act of serious misconduct” in the Dec. 18, 2021 officer‑involved shooting. Cyber summarized a timeline from multiple camera perspectives showing a 40‑mm less‑lethal round struck the subject, and within fractions of a second officers discharged service pistols; the subject later died at a hospital.
The division’s presentation included personnel histories, prior allegations, body‑worn video and the Los Angeles County coroner’s report. Cyber said the Use of Force Review Board had found the officers’ perception of an immediate threat “not objectively reasonable” and that LAPD’s subsequent personnel complaint investigation reached a sustained finding that the force was out of policy. The division told the board it applied Penal Code section 835A, POST regulations and recent court guidance when recommending revocation or suspension of the officers’ POST certificates.
Board members pressed staff about distances, timing and whether mental‑health resources had been requested. Staff said officers were about 22–28 feet from the subject when the lethal rounds were fired and that the 40‑mm less‑lethal device and lethal rounds were discharged within fractions of a second of each other. Staff acknowledged the district attorney’s office and the Los Angeles County Justice System Integrity Division were still reviewing the incident for potential criminal filing.
Numerous family members and community advocates addressed the board during public comment, describing loss and urging decertification and faster complaint follow‑up by POST. “He was in a mental health crisis,” said Addie Kitchen, who identified herself as a grandmother of a person killed during a mental‑health crisis; she urged staff to help families file decertification complaints.
After an executive‑session deliberation, the board returned and recorded roll‑call votes recommending decertification. The motion to decertify Officer Jose Zavala carried on a roll call in which participating members answered in the affirmative; a subsequent vote on Officer Julio Quintanilla produced the same outcome.
The board noted that its review at this stage is based on the facts presented by the division and that final determinations at an administrative evidentiary hearing could refine or challenge those factual assertions. The Division and the Los Angeles County justice offices continue their separate reviews.
The board’s action now goes to the Commission for final disposition. The Commission may accept, modify or reject the board’s recommendation or order a further evidentiary hearing.
