On January 3, Keenan Anderson died of cardiac arrest hours after he was arrested by Los Angeles police and shocked six times. His family and the mayor of the West Coast city are demanding justice.
Unfortunately, there is an air of déjà vu. A little less than two years after the George Floyd case, named after this black man in his mid-40s who was killed by a police officer during his arrest in Minneapolis, a new similar episode is igniting tension and controversy in the United States. This time the victim – also African American – is named Keenan Anderson and died in hospital of cardiac arrest hours after being tasered six times by police. It is clear to his family, and in particular to his cousin Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of the Black Lives Matters movement, that she was “killed by the police” in her 30s.
The events took place on January 3rd. On this day, a police officer on a motorcycle comes out to meet Keenan Anderson, a 31-year-old teacher suspected of being involved in a mundane traffic accident in the Venice area of Los Angeles. The latter, dazed, walks in the middle of the street before the officer tells him to go out onto the sidewalk and sit down. Anderson initially agrees. Then, a few minutes later, the 30-year-old explains that he “want to be seen by people”, gets up and runs away. With the help of reinforcements, the policeman manages to catch up with the teacher and orders him to lie on his stomach.
“They’re trying to make me like George Floyd”
Visibly panicking, Keenan Anderson fights back and yells, “Help,” “They’re trying to kill me.” But also “they are trying to do the same thing to me as George Floyd” while an agent briefly puts his elbow on his chest and neck. On May 25, 2020, police officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, preventing him from breathing and causing his death by asphyxiation.
Confronted with a Keenan Anderson, who is still a bit disturbed but doesn’t seem to pose a threat to the police, one of the agents threatens to shoot him with a taser. Threats are carried out quickly. In a few seconds, the policeman shoots the thirty-something in the back several times with his electric pistol. According to Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore, the Taser gun data shows “six separate activations in 42 seconds.” “The two first [se sont faites] in probe mode. We think the darts weren’t effective. Then four more activations in 33 seconds in paralysis mode, which this time involves direct application to the body, he develops. “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. A few hours after the muscular arrest, the teacher died in the hospital of cardiac arrest.
Three deaths involving police officers in Los Angeles since the beginning of the year
“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,” his cousin Patrisse Cullors wrote. On Instagram, the activist urges the authorities to take action to ensure justice is done and such dramas don’t happen again. In particular, she is calling for the Los Angeles police chief, who she accuses of helping her cousin’s murder, to be removed from office, the use of Tasers to be restricted or police immunity to end.
Like Keenan Anderson’s family, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who is black, has called for a full investigation into the case. Above all, however, that the police officers involved are suspended until the investigation is completed. “Whatever their findings, the need for urgent change is clear. We need to reduce the use of force first and foremost, and I have absolutely no tolerance for that [l’usage] excessive violence,” Bass said Wednesday. An emergency as the death of Keenan Anderson brings the number of police officer deaths in the city of Los Angeles to three since early 2023, according to American media.
This Sunday, at the invitation of Raphael Warnock, pastor and Democratic Senator, to speak at Martin Luther King’s church, Joe Biden felt his famous dream of equality and justice had not come true “yet” and called out again to fight for the “soul” of America.