Posted on 01/17/2023 4:43:12 PM PST by Mark
Family members of Keenan Anderson, a Black man who went into cardiac arrest and died earlier this month after Los Angeles police tased and shackled him following a traffic collision, gathered with several local elected officials in front of City Hall Tuesday calling for several LAPD reforms.
At the briefing, organizers called for police to not be sent for minor traffic accidents, and for restrictions on the use of tasers.
They also sought the release of unedited footage of Anderson’s death, an end to qualified immunity for officers and the removal of Police Chief Michel Moore, who is seeking re-appointment for a second term. “If you continue to blame the victim and not hold officers accountable, why would they ever stop killing us?” said Dominique Anderson, Keenan’s younger sister. “The police are supposed to be here to protect and serve the people, and yet they abuse their authority and have a lack of respect for human life.”
The death of the 31-year-old English teacher was one of three following encounters with LAPD officers since the start of the new year, sparking widespread condemnation. Los Angeles police fatally shot Takar Smith on Jan. 2 and Oscar Leon Sanchez on Jan. 3.
Anderson, the father of a 6-year-old, had been a teacher for more than eight years, the past six months at Digital Pioneers Academy, a charter school in Washington, D.C. Anderson had been in the Los Angeles area visiting relatives during the holidays.
“He also deserves to be hugging his son, but instead his son is left fatherless because of a chance encounter with LAPD taking Keenan’s life,” Anderson said. ” And our family is left to pick up those pieces. Keenan was not a threat to any of those officers on that day.”
Patrisse Cullors, a cousin of Anderson and co-founder of Black Lives Matter, pledged to “fight like hell” for Anderson to receive justice because “you deserve justice.”
“Keenan, you deserve compassion. Keenan, you deserve to be in your classroom, supporting your students. Keenan, you deserve to have your wedding day. Keenan, you deserve to be raising your son,” Cullors said.
Anderson’s family later addressed the City Council during public comment, along with a number of speakers who called for more police accountability.
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Councilman Curren Price — presiding over Tuesday’s meeting as president pro tempore — expressed condolences following the three deaths. Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez then walked over to speak to the family in the chamber.
“I think everyone around this horseshoe certainly expects police to protect and serve, but we want to make sure they are accountable and we are all committed to make sure that occurs,” Price said.
Later, attendees interrupted the meeting after chanting ”say his name,” followed by the names of the three men who died before leaving the chamber voluntarily, though police had begun encircling those who were shouting. At the briefing, three council members — Hernandez, Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Hugo Soto-Martinez — and County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath spoke in support of reform. Former Councilman Mike Bonin also attended.
“I will not be convinced by anybody that any of those people deserved to have their life taken, least of Keenan Anderson,” Harris-Dawson said. “His students should be able to learn from him. His family should be able to love him. His community should still have him at this moment.” Harris-Dawson said a pair of motions addressing unarmed mental health responses and providing an alternative to policing for traffic stops are winding their way through the council.
Moore said last week that the investigation into Anderson’s death was ongoing, but noted Anderson was tased six times during the struggle with officers, a number that raised concerns.
“In my preliminary review of this incident, it’s unclear what the role of that Taser was,” Moore said. “To be clear, it’s dependent on the totality of our investigative resources, but also on medical records from the hospital as well as a coroner’s report and their formal and forensic level examination. As this investigation continues, however, I will pay close attention to the use of the Taser.”
“If your loved one was going through a mental health crisis right now, what would you do? Call 911?” Hernandez said. “Many of the people in the videos were killed when people called 911 for help. They wanted help. They wanted care. And instead they were met with the system which is built — which is law enforcement, which is guns, which is tasers, which is those rubber bullets.”
Hernandez called for more mental health and supportive services. “We cannot let this moment pass us,” she said.
Faced With Shrinking Ranks, LAPD Looks To Rehire Retired Officers
The Los Angeles Police Department is making a simple but unusual pitch to its retired cops: Come back. Please. Faced with a flood of departures and a trickle of recruits entering its training academy that have led to dwindling staffing levels, LAPD officials have drawn up plans that call for as many as 200 retired police officers to be rehired. On the campaign trail in her recent race for mayor, Karen Bass pledged to rebuild the department's ranks to 9,700 officers as the city confronts violent crime rates that remain above pre-pandemic levels. Bass didn't say how quickly she wanted to reach her goal, but, with about 9,200 officers currently on the force and the department failing to attract enough new recruits to keep up with the pace of attrition, making good on her promise anytime soon will be very difficult. About 600 cops are expected to retire or leave for other reasons in the next year — about 20% higher than the typical departure rate, according to LAPD Chief Michel Moore. As a stopgap measure, the department hopes a rarely used bureaucratic mechanism will allow it to regain lost ground. Known informally as the "bounce program," it allows the chief of police to bring retired officers back for up to a year. It typically has been used sparingly in the past to recall an individual officer whose specialized skill sets make them hard to replace, such as a homicide detective who retired while working a case that might otherwise fall without their involvement.
It looked like he decided to get a pay day.
Backfired on him.
“”sought the release of unedited footage of Anderson’s death””
I would say what was shown on TV last night was UNEDITED - the guy was going wild in the street, walking in traffic, refusing to stop when the motorcycle officer told him to; showed the officers taking him down and him fighting them and them tasing him and him still fighting.....What more would the family want? A “pretty please get out of traffic?”
“”Hernandez called for more mental health and supportive services””
The guy was a school teacher and are they saying he needed mental health care?
I would certainly agree that A LOT of them do!!!!
BLM isn’t going to win much of this argument with that video.
Wow, his cousin a co-founder of build luscious mansions, what a family.
LAPD Looks To Rehire Retired Officers
Good luck with that.
"I figure it has been long enough that people have forgotten about my buying mansions for myself with the donations to BLM, so it is safe for me to start my racial grifting again!"
At least they aren’t asking Black people to stop running from the Police
“after Los Angeles police tased and shackled him following a traffic collision”
Sounds like they are leaving out a good bit of relevant stuff that happened after the collision, but before he got tased...
I think it’s FIXED that they don’t have to WIN - everyone caves to them....
If it escalates its not minor. That guy could have gone nuts on the other driver.
Further, “minor” traffic accident is in the eye of the beholder and insurance company, a report needs to be filed by a law officer when fault is going to be determined.
These low iq folks never think things through, just run their mouths on impulses and feelings. And its low iq folks who’s first impulse is to fight other people, including cops.
Yes. I saw the unedited.
Or doing cocaine....
How about criminal policy changes?
I’d love to see some reform among gangsters, and less crime.
Anyone who would work as a cop there is a fool. In fact. Every cop should just quit.
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