A 31-year-old black American, cousin of one of the 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 facts date back to January 3 and have sparked growing controversy since earlier in the week after police released the videos captured by the body cameras of the officers who arrested Keenan Anderson. The footage shows the teacher, disoriented, visibly agitated after being involved in a minor traffic accident in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles. While he was pinned to the ground and struggling, the police shocked him six times with their electric pulse gun.
“Police wrestled with Anderson for several minutes, using a taser, body weight, hard grips and arm bars to overcome his resistance,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement.
The video shows Keenan Anderson calling for help, yelling “they’re trying to kill me” or “they’re trying to make me like George Floyd” while an officer presses his elbow to his chest and neck. Anderson was eventually handcuffed and shackled and taken to the hospital, where he died of cardiac arrest four hours after his arrest.
Anderson taught tenth grade English at the Digital Pioneers Academy in Washington DC, according to the school’s founder, Mashea Ashton. Anderson visited his family in Los Angeles during the winter break, Ashton said. “The details of his death are as disturbing as they are tragic,” he wrote in a statement, adding, “Keenan was a deeply dedicated educator and the father of a six-year-old son. … He was loved by all.”
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”. Patrisse Cullors, Keenan Anderson’s cousin, co-founded the movement, which has expanded into numerous protests and has become a symbol of the fight for equality. On Instagram, she praised his memory. “We will fight for you and for all our loved ones who are victims of state violence,” she wrote.
“It will be difficult to convince a judge that these officers used reasonable force,” Ed Obayashi, California’s chief state adviser on police tactics, told the LA Times. “Visually it doesn’t look like he’s fighting back; he does not threaten the officers. He says I’m not resisting… and what might be called resistance is the body’s automatic response to the taser’s application of pain.”
LA Police Chief, the notorious LAPD, Michel Moore defended his men. “There is no set limit to how many times a taser can be used in any given situation; However, officers should generally avoid repeated or simultaneous activations to avoid potential injury,” he said. He claimed Anderson was in an “altered” condition and defied officers. He also claimed that Anderson’s blood tests showed the presence of cocaine and cannabis in his system.
A Los Angeles City Council meeting Friday night was attended by members of Black Lives Matter, including co-founder Mellina Abdullah, to protest these “extortions.” The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, called for the immediate suspension of the police officers involved pending the conclusion 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.
I have grave concerns about the deeply disturbing tapes that were released today. More in my explanation below.
My heart goes out to the families and loved ones who are mourning the loss of Takar Smith, Keenan Anderson and Oscar Sanchez.https://t.co/ygdf2yYC44
— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) January 12, 2023
The death of Keenan Anderson brings the number of deaths involving LAPD officers to three since early January, according to US media.