A 31-year-old black American, cousin of one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, died hours after receiving a series of electric shocks from a Taser gun during his arrest, Los Angeles authorities said.
The Jan. 3 incident has sparked growing backlash and controversy this week, with police releasing video of Keenan Anderson’s arrest from officers’ handheld cameras on Wednesday.
We see this teacher visibly feverish and agitated after being involved in a mundane traffic accident in the Venice area of Los Angeles. The officers use force to overpower him and pin him to the ground, where they taser at him to discourage him from fighting back.
“Police wrestled with Anderson for several minutes, using a taser, body weight, solid grips and arm bars to overcome his resistance,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement.
The video shows Keenan Anderson yelling “help,” “they’re trying to kill me,” or “they’re trying to do what George Floyd did to me,” while an officer presses his elbow to his chest and neck.
On May 25, 2020, African American George Floyd died of suffocation at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee on his neck for nearly ten minutes. This police blunder triggered a protest movement in the United States and other countries around the world with the central slogan “Black Lives Matter”.
Hospitalized after his arrest, Keenan Anderson died of cardiac arrest.
“He was killed by the police,” Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of the Black Lives Matters movement, accused on Instagram. Keenan Anderson, who lived in Washington and was visiting Los Angeles, was his cousin.
“Keenan deserved to live, his child deserved to be raised by his father. Keenan, we will fight for you and for all of our loved ones who are victims of state violence.”
The death of Keenan Anderson brings the number of deaths involving police officers in the city of Los Angeles to three since early 2023, according to American media.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who is black, called for the immediate suspension of these officers pending the results of the investigation.
“Regardless of the result of these investigations, it is clear that something urgently needs to be changed. We need to reduce the use of force first and foremost, and I have absolutely no tolerance for excessive (use of) force,” Ms Bass said Wednesday.