Police Kill Naked Man in Playa Vista

Playa Vista - A Los Angeles police officer shot a man to death early today during a struggle in Playa Vista, authorities said.

The officer-involved shooting in the LAPD's Pacific Division occurred around 3:15 a.m. in the 5200 block of Crescent Park West in Playa Vista, Richard French of the Los Angeles Police Department said.

Officers went to the location on a report of a business dispute possibly involving a man and a taxi driver, and upon arrival they found the suspect naked and yelling and behaving erratically, police said.

The two officers tried to speak to the man, who was identified by the coroner's office as 25-year-old Reginald Doucet Jr. of Playa Vista, but he reportedly ran away from them to where he had left his shorts and put them on. When officers tried to detain him again, he ran to another apartment complex nearby.

Police said the officers tried to make contact with Doucet a third time in the apartment complex doorway and he attacked both men.

Preliminary reports indicate the officers, one who had been with the LAPD for 17 months and the other with the department for five years, were fighting for their lives, with Doucet repeatedly punching both officers in the face and head. Police also said at one point Doucet tried to take one of the officers' guns, and that is when the shooting occurred.

"I heard them try to detain him and he would not comply and there was a fight, a physical fight, and then I heard two shots," resident Monica Vogelbacher told a news video cameraman.

Doucet was taken to a hospital where he died from his injuries, police said.

One of the officers was treated for injuries to his ankle and face and was immediately released. The other officer was treated for injuries to his jaw and head.

Two other officers en route to the shooting scene were injured when the patrol car they were in crashed in the 4200 block of Centinela Avenue.