Central Division Capt. Jodi Wakefield was involved in a 2005 Downtown incident in which a bank robbery suspect was killed by police after brandishing a sword. So far this year, 39 police officers on Skid Row have been attacked, and two suspects have been shot. Photo by Gary Leonard.

The Allen incident was the second officer-involved shooting in Central Division this year. On July 31, at about 10:20 p.m., two officers shot and killed Jesse Moore, 56, who police described as a narcotics suspect, after he allegedly lunged at an officer with a knife.

The two officer-involved shootings this year come after two years without such an event in Skid Row, according to the LAPD.

Most suspects charged with assaulting an officer tend to be under the influence or in possession of drugs and, as a result, may not be fully aware of the ramifications of attacking a cop, Wakefield said. She was one of the responding officers to a September 2005 incident in which a bank robbery suspect - wearing what turned out to be a fake pistol on his hip - was killed by police after drawing a sword from his pants.

"I can still remember looking in this man's eyes and no matter what I said, he didn't hear me," said Wakefield. "It still raises the hair on my arms. It's something that I'll take with me for the rest of my life."

Officers said that many assault suspects also suffer from mental illness. In June, Jack Richter, the senior lead officer in Little Tokyo, the Arts District and a portion of Skid Row, was struck in the chest by a homeless, schizophrenic man after Richter ordered him to vacate a bus shelter he had "taken over." Richter, who was not injured, said he ultimately subdued the suspect with pepper spray.

"It came to that by his choosing, not mine," Richter said.

Officers who use force, or find themselves on the receiving end of an attack, receive specialized training after the incident, Richter said. For Richter, who had come to know the man who hit him, post-assault training reinforced the reality that it can be dangerous to get too close, figuratively and literally, he said.

"But the reality is, when you proactively work an area, the chances of a confrontation rise significantly," Richter said. "And that's what the officers are doing."