Attorneys for the parents of a 40-year-old mentally ill man who was allegedly armed with a knife when he was fatally shot by a Los Angeles police officer near Koreatown in 2024 want a judge to release the personnel records of that officer and a sergeant.
The officer who shot Yong Yang was previously identified by the LAPD as Police Officer II Andres Lopez. The plaintiffs in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit are Min Yang and Myung Sook Yang, the parents of the decedent. Their lawyers are seeking the records of Lopez and Sgt. Araceli Ruvalcaba in order to find any past issues of excessive force or other misconduct.
“The credibility and past history of violent behavior and excessive use of force, including the failure to follow proper procedures in dealing with the mentally ill, despite having actual knowledge from prior encounters with the mentally ill of the need to follow them, are a substantial portion of the facts of the case against defendants,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys state in their court papers filed Monday with Judge Peter A. Hernandez in advance of a July 2 hearing.
The documents and records concerning Ruvalcaba and Lopez are also “material and directly relevant to plaintiffs’ allegations that the (officers) were aware of department policies for dealing with the mentally ill (and) had previous personal experience in encountering the mentally ill and the use of force in said situations,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers further contend in their court papers.
In 2021, Lopez was involved in the shooting of a mentally ill man waiving a replica handgun outside the Olympic Division station, according to the parents’ attorneys’ pleadings.
The LAPD previously reported that the shooting occurred shortly after 11 a.m. May 2, 2024, at an apartment in the 400 block of South Gramercy Place after officers responded to a report of a “violent male.”
Officers met with personnel from the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) who were attempting to place Yang into custody. DMH personnel were called to the scene by Yang’s parents due to “his erratic and threatening behavior,” according to the LAPD.
“The officers were also advised that Yang did not live at the location, had been diagnosed as bipolar with a schizoaffective disorder, and had attempted to assault one of the DMH employees when they attempted to speak with him,” according to a police statement.
DMH personnel determined that Yang was a danger to others and advised officers that they already completed paperwork to place him on a 72-hour mental evaluation hold. An ambulance was on its way to transport Yang to a nearby hospital.
Police said several attempts were made to communicate with Yang and encourage him to leave the home, however he refused. Officers obtained a key, went up a narrow staircase that led to the front door and announced that they were opening the front door.
“As they did so, Yang was observed standing in the living room several feet away, armed with a large kitchen knife,” police said. “Moments later, Yang advanced toward the officers and Andres’ officer-involved shooting occurred.”
Arriving paramedics pronounced Yang dead at the scene, and an 11-inch knife, with a six-inch blade, was recovered at the location, police said.
But according to the lawsuit filed last Sept. 24, although up to nine law enforcement personnel arrived to the apartment, “Yang did not commit any acts of violence against anyone, did not attempt to leave his parents apartment and was not a threat to any member of the public.”
Yang told the officers that he believed if he opened the door, “entities would enter and kill him and that he has already been killed multiple times,” according to the suit, which further states that Ruvalcaba replied that Yang did not “have options” before telling her officers they were going to have to use force, the suit states.
The officers entered the home about 20 minutes later and a frightened Yang got a knife from the kitchen, but did not threaten anyone, the suit states. Nonetheless, Lopez shot Yang about three times instead of trying to de-escalate the situation, the suit further states.
“Despite a determination that Officer Lopez’s tactical actions in the immediate moments before shooting Yong Yang were a substantial deviation from department-approved tactical training without justification and that Officer Lopez’s tactics warrant a finding of administrative disapproval, the board still found his lethal use of force to be within policy,” the suit states.