© Patrick Fallon / Reuters
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced on Tuesday that no criminal charges would be filed against two Los Angeles police officers involved in the 2014 fatal shooting of Ezell Ford, a 25-year-old mentally challenged African-American man. Prosecutors determined that Officers Antonio Villegas and Sharlton Wampler acted lawfully in self-defense during the incident in which they allege the officers approached Ford because he was acting suspiciously and may have been trying to get rid of an illegal substance. "The evidence indicates that Ford was on top of Wampler, struggling to obtain Wampler's primary service weapon and posing an immediate threat to his safety and his partner's safety," according to the report. "In fear for their lives, Villegas and Wampler each responded with deadly force."