An officer fired a pistol at a man that was driving toward police positioned in a skirmish line during a weekend protest in downtown Los Angeles, authorities said Tuesday.
Police were blocking the intersection at 6th Street and South Broadway shortly before 2 a.m. Saturday when a man, later identified as 49-year-old Richard Dodson, started driving toward the officers, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release.
One officer fired a less-lethal round, which went through the front passenger side window of the vehicle. But the man kept driving toward the skirmish line, according to LAPD.
Another officer then fired his pistol at Dodson, who was not struck and kept driving before shortly stopping his vehicle.
Officers took Dodson into custody and he was booked on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer.
No officers were injured during the incident, police said.
“The complete investigation will be reviewed by the Chief of Police and the Board of Police Commissioners and the Office of the Inspector General to determine the thoroughness and accuracy of the investigation and whether the use of deadly force complied with LAPD’s policies and procedures,” the department said.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will review the investigation.
Protests throughout Los Angeles have largely been peaceful, with hundreds marching through the streets, holding up signs and chanting.
But the protests have also been marked by clashes between officers and protestors, with police shooting rubber bullets and tear gas on protestors as groups broke away and started smashing into businesses and looting.
“Our protests have been completely amazing and beautiful, and the minute that the police come in, it’s been really dangerous,” Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors told KTLA on Monday. “There’s been pepper spray, people have been tear gassed, people have been rubber bulleted. And so we need to challenge this idea of what violence is looking like at this moment.”
