The Region - News from Jan. 13, 1985

A Los Angeles police officer has been cleared of culpability in the fatal shooting last August of a knife-wielding man who allegedly slashed a security guard and then attacked the officer at the downtown Greyhound Bus terminal. The Special Investigations Division of the district attorney’s office has found that Devonshire Area Field Services Lt. Ernest F. Malan committed no crime, since he acted in self-defense when he shot Herschel Cleaves, 33. According to the district attorney’s office, Malan, who was off duty and awaiting the arrival of a passenger at the depot, saw Cleaves attack the security guard with a buck knife. When he tried to intervene, Cleaves punched the officer in the face and came at him with the weapon. Believing he was about to be stabbed, Malan fired once at Cleaves, striking him in the chest. Cleaves, who was taken into custody and hospitalized, died about a month later without regaining consciousness.