Black Lives Matter co-founders Patrisse Cullors and Melina Abdullah are demanding that Los Angeles police officers no longer be dispatched to minor traffic incidents and are calling for additional actions following the cardiac arrest death of Keenan Anderson, Cullors’ cousin, after he was tased repeatedly by police this month.
A preliminary toxicology-blood screen of Anderson’s blood samples tested positive for cocaine and marijuana, according to LAPD, but members of Black Lives Matter believe Anderson would still be alive had officers not used what BLM considered excessive force.
“We know all too well the ways in which law enforcement has created a painful cycle of death and violence in our communities and families,” Cullors said during a news conference Tuesday, Jan. 17, outside Los Angeles City Hall.
“Unfortunately, many of us have been gaslit, attacked and thrown under the bus for simply calling for Black folks to live long, healthy lives, free from the violence of police and criminalization,” she added.
About two dozen people attended the news conference, where Black Lives Matter members made these five demands:
– Mayor Karen Bass not reappoint LAPD Chief Michel Moore to a second term.
– Remove police from traffic stops, mental health crises, schools, transportation facilities “and every place that they obviously don’t belong,” Abdullah said.
– Reform the city’s policy on the use of Tasers – “because less lethal does not mean non-lethal,” Abdullah said.
– LAPD release unedited footage of Anderson’s encounter with police.
– Officers be held accountable for their actions by ending police immunity.
“Don’t let this be a moment. This is a movement,” Abdullah said at the press conference.
Several L.A. city councilmembers also spoke, including Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Hugo Soto-Martinez and Eunisses Hernandez, as well as former Councilmember Mike Bonin. L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath also attended and called for changes to LAPD.
Those who spoke suggested that armed officers shouldn’t respond to minor incidents when sending in an unarmed person trained to deescalate a situation might be more effective.
But currently, Harris-Dawson said, “We do not respond to mental health calls with mental health care. We respond with guns and badges and blaring lights and shouting and commands that people may or may not be in a position to adhere to.”
Anderson, 31, was the father of a 6-year-old and a teacher in Washington, D.C. He was visiting family in L.A. on Jan. 3 when officers encountered him at the site of a traffic collision in Venice, where, according to police, he was exhibiting “erratic behavior.”
Officers struggled to arrest Anderson, who at one point cried out, “They’re trying to George Floyd me,” before he was tased multiple times, according to body camera footage from LAPD.
Anderson was arrested and taken to a hospital, where he died about 4½ hours after being tased, according to police.
LAPD is investigating the use of force, and the L.A. County coroner’s office is conducting its own toxicology tests.
Anderson’s was the city’s third officer-involved death in 2023. Takar Smith, 45, and Oscar Sanchez, 35, died after being shot by police earlier this month.
Sanchez was reportedly armed with a sharp metal object when he was shot by police in South L.A. Smith had a knife when he was fatally shot by police in the Westlake area.
LAPD is investigating all three use-of-force incidents.
LAPD Chief Moore has raised concerns that in all three instances the person involved was experiencing mental distress but the department’s mental-health intervention team was not called to respond.
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Um….They forgot to add the one exception to the rule of police not investigating accidents. If a BLM member is rear ended by a non BLM member I’m pretty sure they will want that investigated.
they really need a state of their very own where their subculture can continue to flourish just like the morlocks in the time machine. in fact, these are the morlocks.
Hey Judy, sounds like an excellent idea to me!
The blacks of today really seem to want segregation, so perhaps we should give it to them. They can have their own state, start their own police forces, etc, etc. the only provisos I’d have on this would be no help from the outside, and zero claim to any reparations they think they’re owed.
Now, in this all black state, if black police end up killing other blacks, well then they have no one else to blame but themselves.
Somehow, I think that idea would fly about as well as a lead balloon, but hey, ya know what they say, “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.”
THEY already have plenty.. THE ENTIRE continent of Africa!!!
Damn straight they would! It’s truly amazing to see how people react if the shoe’s on the other foot.
Frankly, were I a cop out there, I think I’d say, “**** this!” and just not investigate any of it. If they hate cops so bad, then perhaps they don’t deserve them. No more coming to your rapes, murders, robberies, home invasions, gang violence, carjackings, etc.
Yeah, that’s cruel, I know, but maybe a few days, weeks, or even months of that might get these miscreants, malcontents, and ingrates to sing a different tune.
No doubt the LAPD Chief is taking his orders from the Marxist BLM, after all they got him to ban the thin blueline flag and to let them shop left anything they want…. right? I think ganahee is absolutely correct.
PITY the chief is not a VOTED ON Position.. That way those still left there, could RECALL HIM OUT OF office.
How ironic that it always seems that those who break the law more often are usually the ones that want less police presence. Wonder why?
I.A.W. U.S. Census & FBI (Table 43a)
Black males make up about 7% of the U.S. population but every year commit ~56% of all the murders and ~64% of all robberies in the U.S… Every year in the U.S. there are ~6,000 African-Americans men, women and children killed and 92% of them were killed by fellow African-Americans.
Where is the outrage from “Black Lives Matter” and prominent members of the African-American community? Where are the words of condemnation and sorrow from “Black Lives Matter”, Obama, Al Sharpton, or Jesse Jackson over the fact that members of their own race are summarily executing each other?
How many bodies do you have to step over to get to the one that you think is important only because a White police officer was involved?
BECAUSE they can do their crimes EASIER!
Black lives matter is a racist terrorist organization.
Let’s not forget thE BLM leaders are trained Marxists.
They don’t want the police involved in anything—no surprise.
They are only two voices of how many million constituents in LA? They are also not elected representatives, so why would anybody listen to them?