Clifford Proctor had left the U.S. after being accused of murder, but he flew back to LA Thursday night and arrested at LAX. Eric Leonard reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16, 2025.
A murder charge for a former Los Angeles Police Department officer, who was accused of fatally shooting a homeless man in Venice in 2015, was dismissed, the LA County District Attorney's confirmed to NBC Los Angeles Friday.
The case again Clifford Proctor, who was accused of shooting and killing Brendon Glenn, 29, in May 2015 following a dispute near the Venice Beach boardwalk, reached a surprising juncture following a decade-long saga along with investigative ups and downs.
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WATCH HEREProctor had been initially investigated by then-LA County District Attorney Jackie Lacey in 2018. But the DA’s office declined to pursue charges against Proctor, citing “insufficient evidence.”
But then-LAPD Chief Charlie Beck had recommended that Proctor be charged with crime as the police department’s own investigation determined Proctor shot Glenn twice in the stomach then in the back. And in 2024, former District Attorney George Gascon, who ousted Lacey and ran for the DA’s office on the platform of tougher regulations for law enforcement amid the “defund the police” movement across the country, decided to charge Proctor.
Shortly after being charged by Gascon’s office, Proctor fled the country and is believed to have lived in Trinidad for the past year or so. Proctor flew back to California in October 2025 and was arrested 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 present the grand jury with "exculpatory
evidence'' in the case of Clifford Proctor.
"That's good enough to dismiss this matter,'' the judge said, adding that he also concluded after multiple viewings of video footage that it couldn't be shown that Proctor had "malice of any sort.''
Outside the downtown Los Angeles courtroom following the dismissal of the case, Proctor's attorney, Tom Yu, said, "I'm grateful that the court did the right thing.'' The defense lawyer said "any kind of suggestion that this was a murder indictment was nonsensical and not supported by the law.''
The LA District Attorney's Office said it will appeal the court's ruling, citing "sufficient evidence" that may show Proctor was guilty of murder
"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,'' the district attorney added.
Former LAPD Chief Beck also expressed his wish for Proctor to be charged for the 2015 death in an exclusive statement to NBC Los Angeles.
"I recommended filing manslaughter. Still do," Beck said.
The original investigation into the shooting during Lacey's administration included officer body-camera footage, surveillance videos, statements from 10 civilian eyewitnesses, DNA analysis and the "opinion of a nationally recognized use-of-force expert,'' Lacey said at the time.
The use-of-force expert concluded that "Proctor's actions as seen on the surveillance video were consistent with his having observed a threat posed by Glenn,'' according to an 83-page memorandum released at the time by the District Attorney's Office on the investigation into the shooting.
Glenn -- who was "given multiple opportunities to leave the location'' and "chose to be confrontational and aggressive with civilians and the officers'' -- had 18 arrests, 12 convictions and seven pending cases, along
with multiple bench warrants for failure to appear in court, and toxicological testing determined that his blood contained both alcohol and marijuana at the time of the death, according to the memorandum.
"A thorough review of the law and the evidence in this matter leads to the conclusion that there is insufficient evidence to prove that Proctor's use of deadly force in the altercation with Glenn on May 5, 2015, was not justified,'' according to the memorandum. The report noted that while Proctor's actions were found to violate LAPD policy, the "standard of proof used in administrative proceedings is not the standard of proof used in criminal trials.''
The city of Los Angeles paid $4 million to settle wrongful-deathl awsuits filed by Glenn's relatives.
