LOS ANGELES, CA – The televised chase of a mentally ill man ended in tragedy last Friday night when Brian Beaird was killed after fleeing from police. Officers of the LAPD had attempted to stop Beaird for allegedly drunken driving when he ran and led them on a high-speed chase.
It is not clear whether the man was intoxicated, but he allegedly did suffer from schizophrenia. It’s possible that the flashing lights and helicopter may have terrified him out of his senses.
The chase ended when the man wrecked into another occupied vehicle whose passengers were said to be injured but will recover.
With the news copters cameras trained on the scene, Beaird can be seen leaving the vehicle and staggering toward the sidewalk. He then raised his hands in the air before being shot multiple times (21:10 in the video) .
The three officers who fired the 15-20 rounds have been removed from the field pending the results of an investigation.
It is believed that the firing squad commenced after one officer shot a beanbag round, possibly causing the other officers to react. Standard procedure requires that police using a beanbag gun are supposed to notify other officers in order not to confuse them with actual gunfire.
“Before an officer discharges a beanbag, the protocol is to loudly state, ‘bean bag ready! Bean bag ready!’ so that everybody knows that the next detonation that they hear is not a gunshot,” Police Chief Charlie Beck said.
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