Woman in MTA Shooting Case Released From Jail

A Willowbrook woman who was shot by Metropolitan Transportation Authority police in July was ordered released from jail on her own recognizance Thursday.

Sylvia Bethea, 37, had been held 18 days in County Jail in lieu of $165,000 bail after being charged with evading arrest. MTA Officer Lee Jensen shot Bethea twice July 21, after he and his partner chased her briefly in an unmarked van.

The officers said Bethea ran a stop sign, was driving erratically and did not stop when they attempted to pull her over. Bethea said she did not know the unmarked van, which had flashing interior lights and a siren, was a police car.

She drove to her parents’ home on East 130th Street where Jensen approached her with his gun drawn, her relatives said. As Bethea was getting out of her van, holding her keys, Jensen fired. He thought the keys were a weapon, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who are investigating the shooting. Bethea’s father has said that his daughter had her hands up and was pleading with the officer not to shoot her when he fired.