Former LAPD officer Clifford Proctor was accused of shooting and killing Brendon Glenn. He was arrested for murder last year, nearly a decade later
A judge dismissed the indictment against a former Los Angeles Police Department officer who was charged with murder in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man in Venice in 2015, according to the LA County District Attorney’s Office.
The officer, Clifford Proctor, was accused of shooting and killing Brendon Glenn, a homeless man, following a dispute between Glenn and a bouncer near the Venice Beach boardwalk.
Proctor was initially investigated by then-LA County District Attorney Jackie Lacey in 2018. Her office did not pursue charges against Proctor, citing “insufficient evidence,” despite then-LAPD Police Chief Charlie Beck recommending that Lacey file charges against Proctor.
Proctor claimed Glenn was reaching for his partner’s gun. But an LAPD investigation concluded Proctor shot Glenn twice in the back. The Los Angeles Police Commission ruled the shooting was unjustified.
In 2024, former District Attorney George Gascón decided to charge Proctor. But Proctor fled the country and is believed to have lived in Trinidad. He was later arrested at the Los Angeles International Airport in October 2025 for murder.
In granting a defense motion to dismiss the case, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen found that former Special Prosecutor Lawrence Middleton had failed to properly present “exculpatory evidence” to the grand jury in the case of Clifford Proctor.
“That’s good enough to dismiss this matter,” the judge said. He said he also concluded after multiple viewings of video footage that it couldn’t be shown that Proctor had “malice of any sort.”
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The LA County District Attorney’s Office said it will appeal the court’s ruling.
“We are surprised and disappointed by the judge’s decision, whose erroneous ruling has thwarted our efforts to obtain justice for Brendon Glenn, the victim of Officer Proctor’s shooting,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “We will be appealing the Court’s ruling as we strongly believe there was more than sufficient evidence presented to the grand jury to show that Mr. Proctor was guilty of second-degree murder for maliciously killing an unarmed man.”
Outside of the downtown Los Angeles courtroom following the dismissal, Proctor’s attorney Tom Yu said, “I’m grateful that the court did the right thing.”
The city of Los Angeles paid $4 million to settle wrongful death lawsuits filed by Glenn’s relatives in 2016.