Burbank police fire cop from video that leaves distraught man on LA sidewalk

The Burbank Police Department said its officers did not violate any regulations after the president of the Los Angeles City Council released a video showing officers dropping a distressed homeless man on the sidewalk.

Council President Paul Krekorian released the video in June and called for an investigation into the officers' actions. The man was left outside Krekorian's North Hollywood office.

Burbank police said in a press release Wednesday that they had completed their investigation and “concluded that the officers' actions did not violate department policy and there was no evidence of wrongdoing.”

The agency said it interviewed witnesses and reviewed video footage from police body cameras, footage from inside the patrol car, surveillance video and service logs.

Police also denied that the man was homeless and said investigators spoke with a person who identified himself as the man's landlord. The man had been renting a room in a house in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Sylmar for several years, Burbank police said.

The FBI's Civil Rights Division reviewed the circumstances of the incident and the internal investigation and “declined to take further action,” police said.

In an earlier statement, Burbank police said they responded to a call near a Burbank hospital about a naked man sitting at a bus stop. The man said he voluntarily left the hospital and asked to be taken to the North Hollywood subway station. On the way, the man asked to be let out of the vehicle so he could get a cup of coffee, police said.

Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank said in a statement in June that an incident had occurred on public property near the hospital. Among the calls to police was a hospital security guard who needed assistance for a person who appeared to be in distress.

“Officers transported the man to North Hollywood at his request to assist him,” Burbank police said Wednesday. “Because he was not under arrest or in police custody, officers released him during transport when he asked to exit the police car.”

The video released by Krekorian shows two Burbank police officers letting the man get out of the back of a police vehicle before driving away.

The man, apparently struggling to stand, fell to his knees and crawled a short distance before coming to rest on the ground.

Krekorian said at a press conference in June that there has long been suspicion that surrounding cities are “pushing their homeless populations into the city of Los Angeles” rather than providing assistance.

“The individual fell to the sidewalk and was obviously suffering from a mental health crisis as well as physical injuries,” he said. “And the Burbank Police Department officers got back in their vehicle and drove back to Burbank – without rendering aid to this individual, without determining if there was anyone who could assist this individual.”

“They dumped him in North Hollywood,” he added.

Krekorian said after his office became aware of the video, staff drove around looking for the man and got him medical attention from the city fire department when he was found. The man told staff he believed he had a broken leg and had recently become homeless outside the city of Los Angeles, Krekorian said.

Krekorian's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Burbank police said the man had been “introduced to services that can provide him with long-term, ongoing care if needed.”