A former Torrance police officer who confronted legal costs for capturing a Black man fleeing a criminal offense scene will keep away from jail time and ultimately see his case dismissed below a plea deal reached with Los Angeles County prosecutors.
David Chandler, 37, agreed to the deal in a downtown L.A. courtroom on Wednesday morning. Strolling with the help of a cane, he took a seat in Choose Alison Matsumoto Estrada’s courtroom as Deputy Dist. Atty. Brandy Chase learn out the phrases of the settlement.
Chandler should full 100 hours of group service, keep out of hassle for a yr and relinquish the Peace Officer certification that permits him to work in state regulation enforcement, Chase stated.
Chandler agreed to every of the stipulations with the phrases, “Sure, ma’am.” If he adheres to the necessities, the case might be dismissed in November 2026, in line with the settlement. Chandler declined to deal with the courtroom, asserting his fifth Modification rights.
“I believe the dismissal is a justified choice by the D.A.’s workplace,” Tom Yu, an lawyer for Chandler, informed The Occasions after the listening to. Yu declined to make Chandler accessible for an interview.
“He’s not returning to regulation enforcement,” Yu stated.
Chandler was beforehand linked to an notorious racist text-messaging scandal. He was certainly one of greater than a dozen Torrance officers whose quantity was on a textual content thread by which they routinely used racial slurs, joked about killing Black suspects, bragged about utilizing extreme pressure and made homophobic and antisemitic feedback.
Regulation enforcement sources not licensed to talk publicly in regards to the case stated Chandler was investigated as a part of the scandal. The Occasions by no means noticed proof that Chandler despatched any racist messages.
Yu declined on Wednesday to reply questions in regards to the text-messaging scandal or the capturing that led to the fees in opposition to his consumer.
The capturing occurred in 2018 when Chandler was certainly one of a number of officers who responded to a report of a disturbance at an aged girl’s house. Her grandson allegedly smashed a sliding glass door then left the world, earlier than returning with a knife, data present.
It was not clear if the person brandished the weapon or threatened anybody earlier than Chandler fired “a number of rounds” as the person walked away, prosecutors alleged. The person was injured however survived.
L.A. prosecutors charged Chandler with assault by a public officer in 2021. A decide dominated there was sufficient proof to proceed to trial in 2023.
Within the text-messaging scandal, regulation enforcement sources stated Chandler was amongst officers who confronted scrutiny as a result of their telephone quantity was linked to a bunch chat dubbed “The Boys” that was replete with racist feedback. Virtually each member of the chat was a Torrance police officer.
The texts have been despatched between Could 2018 and February 2022, in line with investigative experiences made public by the the state Fee on Peace Officer Requirements and Coaching.
Chandler was fired by the Torrance Police Division in 2023 due to make use of of extreme pressure, in line with an on-line database maintained by the state fee. It was not clear if the 2018 capturing was the extreme pressure allegation that led to Chandler’s firing. A Torrance police spokesman declined to remark.
Chandler stays “a part-time Soldier within the California Military Nationwide Guard,” in line with an company spokesman. He first joined the Guard in 2020. The pending legal case in opposition to Chandler has triggered him to be “flagged,” which means he can’t be promoted, transferred or deployed, in line with a regulation enforcement supply with direct data of the scenario who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate a personnel matter.
Chandler was not deployed to Los Angeles as a part of President Trump’s use of the navy to help immigration raids earlier this yr, in line with a navy spokesman.
No less than seven members of the Torrance Police Division who have been linked to the scandal are now not with the company, in line with courtroom data and the state fee database.
4 others have been charged with crimes.
In April, former officers Cody Weldin and Christopher Tomsic every pleaded responsible to felony vandalism for spray portray a swastika inside a car that had been towed from a criminal offense scene. The officers’ arrest sparked the police investigation that exposed the texts. Every had to surrender their proper to be law enforcement officials in California and can spend two years on probation, however each prevented jail time.
Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez are awaiting trial on manslaughter costs within the 2018 killing of Christopher Deandre Mitchell, who was sitting in a automobile with an air rifle between his knees when the officers fired the deadly rounds. Mitchell, a car-theft suspect, was parked in a Ralphs car parking zone when he was killed. Neither officer alleged that Mitchell grabbed the weapon or pointed it at them earlier than they started capturing, data present.
Within the textual content thread, officers mentioned the capturing used the N-word to explain Mitchell’s kin, in line with data beforehand obtained by The Occasions. The title of the officer who despatched that textual content message was redacted within the data. Concannon was investigated as a part of the scandal, however his lawyer says he didn’t ship any racist texts.
