FBI To Investigate LAPD Shooting

The attorney for the family of a man whose infant daughter was fatally shot in his stand-off with the Los Angeles Police Department on July 10 has succeeded in his efforts to secure an FBI probe of the incident. The family reportedly sought the federal agency's intervention because it believed that the LAPD could not be sufficiently objective in its own investigation.

It was widely reported that the father was using his own infant daughter as a "human shield". The LAPD has not denied that the infant was shot by police during the incident. There have been accusations that the family is seeking publicity and preparing for a possible civil rights lawsuit.

Throughout all of this, it should be kept in mind that if the facts show that the father used his own daughter to protect himself during the shoot-out, as claimed by the LAPD, then the police might have done all it could to avoid injuring her and caused the death despite its best efforts.

There is no reason to fear an independent probe into the facts if there is nothing to hide, but by the same token, any future compensation should be firmly grounded in what was reasonable under the circumstances as determined by the FBI investigation and other objective analyses. One could hardly ask for much more, or less.