. In that case, two LAPD officers responded to a call from MacArthur Park, near downtown Los Angeles, that a homeless man was disturbing the peace by throwing bottles over a wall. According to eyewitnesses at the scene, one officer hit an innocent bystander with his baton, even before knowing who was throwing the bottles. When the police officers determined that Triana was the man throwing the bottles, they began hitting him repeatedly on the head with their clubs. Even after Triana fell down, the officers kept hitting him on the head. They pushed Triana's head into a restroom wall while handcuffing him, and then allowed him to hit his head on the sidewalk while being escorted to the car. Before placing him in the car, the officers set Triana on a shopping cart, which tipped over. Finally, at the station, the officers realized that Triana was dead when he did not respond to having water poured over him (Timnick, 2 officers, 1990, p. B4). A forensic investigation on this case determined that Triana "died at the hands of police" (Timnick, Transient, 1990, p. B3). Thus, the homeless man's death was not "accidental," as the police report claimed. Nevertheless, manslaughter charges against the two officers were dropped, and both were charged simply with the use of excessive force (Timnick, Transient, 1990, p. B3).
Not all members of the LAPD are cruel to the homeless. Nancy Mintie of the L.A. Inner City Law Center has agreed that some police officers treat the homeless unfairly. Nevertheless, Mintie has claimed: "I wouldn't want to make a blanket condemnation, because some police are very good at working with the homeless" (Timnick, Transient, 1990, p. B3). There have been many cases in which officers of the LAPD have acted gallantly or even heroically in dealing with the h
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