Fatal LAPD shooting involved ex-college football player/model

The man Los Angeles police officers shot in Playa Vista during a scuffle Friday was identified as a former college football player.

Reginald Doucet Jr., 25, played defensive back at El Camino College and Middle Tennessee State University.

According to his Middle Tennessee State biography, Doucet was 6 feet tall and weighed 190 pounds when he played there. Raised in Prunedale, Calif., he was a track and football star at North Monterey County High School, where he also played basketball, his biography says.

Doucet played junior college football at El Camino College near Torrance before winning a scholarship to Middle Tennessee State. Doucet more recently worked as a personal fitness trainer and part-time model, said his neighbor and former agent, Chris Ellison. Doucet was single but has a daughter who is 3 or 4 years old. KTLA-TV (Channel 5) reported Doucet also worked as a model.

The shooting occurred about 3:30 a.m. when two patrol officers responded to a disturbance call in the 5200 block of Crescent Park West and found a naked man "yelling and behaving erratically," according to an LAPD statement.

Police said the officers attempted to calm the agitated man and talked him into putting on his boxer shorts, but he ran when they tried to apprehend him. They approached him again, but he ran once more.

"When the officers tried a third time to detain the suspect in the apartment complex doorway, the suspect immediately attacked both officers," the statement said. "The suspect repeatedly punched both officers in the face and head and at one point tried to take one of the officer's guns."

That's when one of the officers, identified only as a male with 17 months in the department, shot Doucet twice, police said. He died at a hospital.

-- Kim Christensen

Photo: Los Angeles police Cmdr. Andrew Smith, left, and Officer Tiffany Wright escort a distraught woman who said she knew Reginald Doucet Jr., who was killed by police. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

 

 

Comments

[lisa]

Disgusting. How is it even possible that trained law enforcement personnel shoot an unarmed naked man? It is criminal.

[oldskool57]

....The cops tried to help this goof.....LAPD has a dangerous job. This guy will not be missed....and we are all a lot safer now that he is gone.

[john robinson]

I doubt the police version of he grabbed the ploice gun. Ploice known to lie big time to protect themselves. More and more people getting killed by ploice. Once has to be scared of police more than thugs. Police can getaway with wahtever they say as the so called suuspect is dead

[john robinson]

most of the pro ploice comments are by ploice themselves

[B real]

I see that a lot of people who are writing comments are obviously law enforcement and who are not willing to change the way that they do their job. There job is to protect and serve and not to end the life of citizens. How many people lose their lives here in Los angeles county due to be killed at the hands of law enforcement.The police are not licensed to kill and citizens just like us and have no right to kill unarmed individuals.

[Donnellie Burton]

I went to High School with Reggie and I consider him a good friend. There is no reason he should be dead right now. Even if he was showing aggresion he was clearly unarmed. What kind of threat is a person who is only waering boxeres. Reggie was not the type of person to act aggresivly unless he felt threatned. Maybe he was just trying to tell his side of the story and of course they didnt want the listen. I am truely hurt by the this and hope the truth comes out. Reggie you are already missed and will alwys be loved by thousands. R.I.P

[Rick]

I love the people saying the police should be using the tazer or batons etc. Guess what folks, Doucet was out of his mind possibly on drugs and overpowering the police officers. He attempted to take one of the officers' weapons. In a situation like that lethal force is necessary and who's to say that would have even stopped the attack. If Doucet was high on drugs he could be tazered, hit with a baton or shot multiple times and still kept on attacking until his body shut down from blood loss.

[DrvinLB]

To bad it was not on video. Some of you people watch to many Steven Seagal movies. That the LAPD officers can judo flip him to the ground and slap the cuffs on this wrist.

[Light2000]

Why did they not use a taser gun?
Unfortunately, as long as Police officers remain immune to criminal prosecution in this State, assassinations of non dangerous people will continue. They would think twice before being so eager to shoot. They will always say that the water nozzle looked like a gun, or the cell phone or the wallet. They will always say that they were attacked and responded in self defense.

[Melroser]

Are the anti-police whiners who have posted comments here naive, or just stupid? "Why didn't the cops use their batons?" You have seen way too many TV shows. If this guy was on PCP or other drugs (which we will probably find out), a baton would not have stopped him. "Why didn't they just shoot him in the leg?" Have you ever fired a gun? Even the most highly-trained shooter can't necessarily hit a moving target at night that precisely. "Why didn't they taser him?" Because he was trying to get their guns to shoot the cops with. So, you think that while a drugged-out thug is reaching for your gun, you should reach for your taser instead? Why don't you try that experiment on your own?

Cops aren't perfect, but they put their lives on the line every day, and in most instances they make the right call and do a great job. They certainly did in this case. If you don't think that cops should be able to defend themselves against drugged-out thugs running around naked in the middle of the street in the middle of the night, and trying to grab their guns to use against them, then you don't think the police should ever do anything. If you really want to live in a place with no police, there are a few places you can go. Ever heard of Somalia? Have a nice time there!

[legal tender]

Plain and simple lawsuit pending..There is no way this stands in court the man was naked and had no weapon back up should have been called to apprehend or taser or mace..the officers pulled a gun cause the officers were getting beat up...thats what back up is for...LAwsuit peding hugge huge idiot police officers...thats why cops are not viewed well IN LA...LAwsuit do it

[Unbelievable]

To all you cop haters I'm sure you're the same that voted to legalize marijuana. I'm glad the cops won this fight! No need to lose you life over an irrational, aggressive, confrontational, combative and irresponsible individual. Meantime, keep on puffing cop haters!

[matthew cooke]

I do not agree that someone needs to be a Police Officer to have an opinion on how the police should protect and serve our communities.

An intoxicated, unarmed naked man should be able to be subdued without killing him.

That's common sense. For a human being.

[chris]

Are tazers illegal in California? If not then why weren't they used, obviously he had no weapon.

[woody]

So many ignorant cop haters out there that have all the answers. They tried to subdue the dude and he reached for their gun. That means he wants to kill them. You would all do the same thing if a huge football player was trying to kill you. And people that are home and asleep at 3am don't get shot by cops.

[Avril]

Of course it was wrong for him to be naked , combative , and whatever else the cops claimed her was that night. My whole argument is , why the hell is killing someone an acceptable way of subduing them. Like many have already commented , why not use pepper spray , rubber bullets , or a taser gun. Is killing their only line of defense. And when his family sues (which I pray they will) then their called money hungry , but the cops are never called what they are , trigger happy.

[Mark]

Chris - you can't be serious. Cops make 60-80k a year and have the best retirement plan out there - full salary after 20 years in. Who the hell gets that?

CUT POLICE PAY! Overpaid egomaniacs

Oh.. and yea, they should learn to shoot in the leg/knee. Yea, that can still kill (Sean Taylor), but its a better risk.

[ThinkerBelle]

LA Weekly had all of this information and more yesterday afternoon. They even have video Reggie made that night. In one Reggie says he'd been up for 10 days straight. If that's the case then he obviously was on something. It's never a good thing when someone is shot. But don't jump to conclusions (against Reggie or the cops) until more information is in.
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/01/reggie_doucet_shot_lapd.php

[blackone]

I know that some whites are excited over these very frequent reports of police killings of Black men, and it appears to increase their confidence and put a little strut to their walk.
I believe the police are trying to incite a race war.
I honestly, I truly believe they will get more than they bargained for, despite the fire power and military weapons that we have purchased for them.

[blackone]

Yet Jared Loughner lives.
Black people should also arm themselves.

[Charles]

Yeah right. If two officers can't detain 1 human being, then they need to get another job. Thats why they have tazers

[Sue]

It is so unfortunate that this young man had to die when he was unarmed. Given the situation, all we can do is second guess. So he ran from officers twice. If I were there, I would have pulled out my taser and shot him with that first. If that failed, then I would have threatened him with my gun and lethal force.

Are African Americans just out there for target practice or what?

[u know]

@George Soros

Well put.

[u know]

@Joe Keesler

If you are in fact a medical doctor then you are a disgrace to your profession. You should be banned from practicing medicine and you should be prosecuted for failing to act when witnessing and failing to stop what amounts to possible criminal acts.

Go hide your head in the sand somewhere and never show your disgraced again in public.

[oldtimer]

So this guy was minding his own business when the cop shot him for no reason.

I guess that the other day when I was minding my own business and a cop saw me I was lucky that I did not get shot.