A man who has yet to identified was shot and critically wounded by Los Angeles police on October 12 after being stopped and questioned on suspicion of  gang-related graffiti vandalism with 23-year-old Kennedy Garcia. In a routine news release about the officer-involved shooting, the LAPD claimed that Garcia fled when police were attempting to handcuff him and others for the  graffiti.  They eventually found the unidentified suspect hiding under an SUV and pulled him out by his ankles at which point the officers allege that the suspect was holding a “metallic object” they believed to be a handgun, prompting them to shoot.

As it turns out, the LAPD version of events was incomplete. Joel Rubin of the Los Angeles Times reports that police withheld that the suspect was unarmed, handcuffed, and lying face down when he was shot. So not only was the suspect restrained but his back was facing the officers when they fired, raising important questions about whether or not police actions were justified, which is the whole point of investigating the incident.

Yet, in an explanation that defies common sense, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck swore to the Times that these glaring omissions were necessary “to preserve the integrity of the investigation and not taint potential witnesses.” Get it? The police couldn’t include key facts that make them look really bad because that would ruin any attempt to find out what actually happened.

Assuming for a moment that this argument makes any sense, it’s important to note that this isn’t the first time that the LAPD failed to present information that reflects poorly on its officers. According to the Times:

Last month, the department released an account of an incident in which a woman died after several officers forced her into the back seat of a police car. The news release made no mention of the fact that a female officer was under investigation for berating the woman and stomping on her genitals during the encounter. Police officials confirmed those details after the Times inquired about the case.

Meanwhile, another person of color, 28-year-old Jonathan Lopez, was shot and killed by police in Bakersfield, California. Judging by the comments section of this article, readers are shocked that Lopez’s parents believe their son was murdered by police who they say are lying about his death.

Police claim that Officer Keith Cason was in his patrol car when he saw Lopez walking down the street. Cason suspected Lopez was armed (though no explanation has been given as to why) so he ordered Lopez to stop. That’s when Lopez ran and Cason chased after him. During the pursuit, police say Lopez stopped and pointed his gun at the officer, who was forced to shoot.

But multiple witnesses who saw the encounter, which took place outside their apartment complex, say Lopez was unarmed and pleading for the officer not to shoot. They say Cason shot Lopez, first in the leg when he was attempting to scale a fence, and several more times after Lopez insisted he had no gun and even surrendered.

Police claim they recovered Lopez’s gun at the home of 42-year-old Edna Diaz who they arrested for concealing material evidence and accessory to attempted murder. But Lopez’s family isn’t buying it, especially since, according to Bakersfield Now, “Officer Cason was involved in a shooting last year that happened during a domestic violence call. In that incident, Cason shot a man who he believed had a gun. It turned out to be a cell phone. Cason was cleared of any wrong doing in that incident.”

I’m not suggesting that the Bakersfield Police Department is involved in some sort of cover-up. But given the latest attempt by the LAPD to hide inconvenient information about an officer-involved shooting, which follows a long history of law enforcement around the country doing the same, is it really any wonder why families of police shooting victims are reluctant to believe the police? And can you really blame them?

Correction:  I originally wrote that 23-year-old Kennedy Garcia was shot by the LAPD. Joel Rubin, an LA Times reporter and author of the article this blog post is based on, alerted me over twitter that it was not Garcia who was shot, but a man who was with Garcia and who the Police have yet to identify.