"They used that training as a cover to kill him in retaliation for his whistleblowing activity," attorney Bradley Gage told NPR. Officer Houston, who died in May, was investigating an alleged rape.

The LAPD detained at least 16 journalists covering a protest in March 2021, a low point in a year of increasing mistrust and hostilities between police departments and the media.

Decades of tensions between police and journalists in Los Angeles led to a night of chaos last year in which officers detained at least 16 journalists covering a protest at the city's Echo Park.

Robert Stewart was among the first Black officers hired by the LAPD. He spent 11 years on the force before he was unjustly terminated, according to the Los Angeles Police Commission.

The district attorney's office said police "acted in lawful self-defense and defense of others." It added the officers won't be held criminally responsible in the death of Melyda Corado.

In a 59-count complaint, they are alleged to have wrongly marked dozens of people as having gang affiliation on field interview cards used by officers on duty.