Luo County Chinese police officer Luke Liu was charged with manslaughter 6 years ago for shooting and killing the suspect who stole the car, and after a lengthy trial, the jury made a final judgment on the 19th to revoke Officer Liu's "manslaughter". Low County Criminal Court Judge Mark S. Arnold comforted Officer Liu, saying, "From today onwards you can forget about it and start your life anew." ”
Officer Liu, 42, found a suspicious stolen vehicle at the 7-11 convenience store at 10962 Alondra Street in Nowark on February 24, 2016, and garcia, a 26-year-old driver, fled by car as he prepared to interrogate the suspect. Officer Liu suspected that Garcia reached for the gun and drove his car into himself, subconsciously firing 7 shots in a row, killing the suspect on the spot. He thus became the first officer at the Lo County Police Department to be charged with manslaughter in more than 20 years.
Four of the seven bullets fired by Officer Liu hit Garcia, causing the car to crash into a sign next to the gas station. Officer Liu immediately stepped forward to pull the suspect out of the car and perform CPR until the ambulance arrived, but Garcia eventually died in the hospital.
Lowe County prosecutor Chris Baker accused Officer Liu of making one wrong decision after another, resulting in the shooting of an unarmed, nonviolent suspect. He told the jury that Liu's shooting was "unreasonable, unnecessary, and illegal," arguing that Garcia was slow to leave and that Officer Liu could catch up and stop the other side, but he chose to shoot seven shots in a row.
Shell's allegations were refuted by Officer Liu's defense lawyer, Michael D. Schwartz, who argued that the prosecutor's account did not correspond to the actual circumstances at the scene of the crime, saying that Liu did not deliberately shoot and kill, but out of an instinct for self-preservation. Michael said in his closing plea that Officer Liu believed that the suspect had reached for the gun and was going to hit him with his car, so he made a shot in self-defense, and the defense lawyer recommended that the jury drop the charges against Officer Liu.
Jackie Lacey, a former prosecutor at the Luo County Prosecutor's Office, has said she believed Officer Liu's shooting was improper and ill-reasoned under the circumstances. But Officer Liu's colleagues testified that Liu was worried his life was in danger because he was scratched by an fleeing car. But Shell told the jury that the results of the examination at the Memorial Hospital of The Long Causeway proved that Liu was not injured and that there were no bruises or swellings on various parts of his body.
After Officer Liu was indicted in 2018, the 10-year veteran was suspended by the Cerritos Police Station, and the Luo County Police Department did not respond to Liu's current employment status. In 2018, the Luo county government agreed to compensate Garcia's family for a 1.75 million yuan pension as compensation for police manslaughter.