The Culver City Police Department made video and surveillance footage of the Guillerno Medina shooting available to the public this week following a lawsuit from Medina’s family.
CCPD posted the following to social media: “On the morning of December 18th, 2022, members of the Culver City Police Department were involved in an Officer Involved Shooting of Guillermo Medina. The incident is currently under investigation by the California Department of Justice and the California Office of the Attorney General. In the interest of transparency, the Culver City Police Department is releasing the following Critical Incident briefing to provide the community with details surrounding the incident. As part of this video briefing, you will be shown surveillance footage, as well as video footage from the responding officers’ body-worn and vehicle dashboard cameras. You will also hear the 9-1-1 call and radio traffic from our dispatch center, as well as other relevant facts and evidence.”
The video, which is on Youtube and you can see attached to this story at culvercitynews.org, sees Interim Police Chief Jason Sims introduce the footage. Community Relations Officer Marissa Yabko then walks the viewers through the footage, though not before reading a warning that the video is not suitable for young and sensitive viewers.
We get extensive details about the 911 domestic violence call that prompted the police response, including the words “He’s got a gun and I’m scared.”
We see Medina in a 59 minute car chase, and ramming a vehicle at a stop sign into oncoming traffic. We see him exiting his damaged vehicle and running from the police before the eventual shooting that killed him. We hear an officer say that he’s reaching into his waist for something, and somebody remarks that it might be a cellphone. Medina was unarmed, though there was a replica gun in his vehicle.
Four independent investigations are ongoing.