By  Dianne Anderson

The April 25 fatal shooting of Lejoy Grissom, 27, might have gone unnoticed, if not for one star witness, a former Orange County deputy public defender who just happened to see the entire incident from beginning to end, as he was gunned down by a Culver City police officer.

Even then, the case seems cut and dried with a credible criminal defense attorney at the scene, while the district attorney’s office has stated that the shooting appeared justified.

One local justice group believes the story would be on the path toward a cover-up if not for town hall meetings and rallies that will continue from now until justice is served.

Police reported that Grissom was a robbery suspect, thought to have had a weapon, but witness Frances Prizzia, a private practice attorney, is quoted as saying, “there's no way” that Grissom had reached for a gun. His hands were raised in full view before being shot point blank three times by the officer’s submachine gun.

Grissom was shot outside a doughnut shop after being stopped for allegedly resembling a robbery suspect.

Community activist Royce Esters said that there were quite a few witnesses at the scene. He compares the case to the Oscar Grant case, the fatal Oakland officer-involved shooting, in that the police department and officials are trying to play down the severity of excessive force.

“For some reason the district attorney’s office seems to go along with the police department,” said Esters, founder of the National Association for Equal Justice In America. “Our civil rights [efforts] are not going to let them hide it.”

Prizzia just happened to be at the doughnut shop and not related to the case in any way.

Esters is calling on communities from Los Angeles, Long Beach and the Inland Empire to come out and voice their concern against the mishandling of the incident, and the area’s mounting excessive force and misconduct cases.

“Come and ask questions of the Culver City Police Department,” he said. “We’re asking about excessive force and community policing. We can’t just let them get away with that.”

On Saturday, July 10, NAEJA is holding an emergency town hall meeting starting 2:00 p.m. at Elks Club #1917 located at 11160 Washington Place in Culver City. He said that he’s hoping to get Ms. Prizzia to participate in the panel.

Among those invited to attend include the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, county District Attorney,  Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the U.S. Department of Justice,  U.S. Attorney General’s office, Culver City Mayor,  L.A. County  Office of Independent Review, the police department, local ministers and residents.

He said that he invited ATF to the panel to ask why a police officer needs to carry a submachine gun.

Esters went before the city council to invite the mayor and council to the meeting to address mounting complaints by residents of police harassment and misconduct.

NAEJA’s private investigators are currently pressing for justice in the 2008 Sheriff’s Department  fatal shooting of a young Compton man in a wheelchair outside of a church.

“There were 23 witnesses in that case; it seems to me every time we turn around we’re doing [these cases],” he said.

He said that it seems there’s always a white and Hispanic officer that shoots Black males, but rarely has he ever seen a Black officer shoot or harass anyone.

NAEJA is expanding, now located in Riverside, recently to Orange County, and in Ohio. The organization is also located in several other cities nationwide.

The organization seeks to address racial discrimination, police brutality,  injustice in the court system, equal job opportunities, and open up productive dialogue between the races.

“The community can help by being at the emergency town hall meeting and ask questions. We definitely want justice for this young man,” he said. “I want to know, why a machine gun?”

To find out more about NAEJA, or volunteer, contact (310) 608-5878

or see http://naeja.bizland.com/