A 31-year-old man who was a father and a high school teacher in Washington D. C. died in Venice, California after being repeatedly tased in the middle of the street as shown on police body-camera footage. Keenan Anderson who was a cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, died on January 3 due to a cardiac arrest, hours after a struggle with cops of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Anderson who taught English at a mostly-black charter school in Washington and was highly respected was visiting his family in California when this incident happened. No less than three people have been killed by LAPD officers so far in 2023. The other two victims were dark-skinned and all three killings happened in a week. The other two victims were Takar Smith and Oscar Sanchez. According to data by the group Mapping Police Violence, at least 1,176 people nationwide were killed by cops in 2022 which is the record of police killings by the year.
According to the police chief Michel Moore during a news conference, Anderson "committed a felony hit and run in a traffic collision" and also tried to enter someone else's car.
According to reports, an unnamed officer encountered Anderson at 3:38 p.m. PT that day after noticing him signal for help with a vehicle collision. The officer said he saw the man "running in the middle of the street and exhibiting erratic behavior," the report said. According to witnesses, Anderson caused the accident. The report says that he sat down as directed but got up and ran into the street after more cops came and that he ignored requests to stop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2vfaixMaPY
As in the footage which looks different from what the report says (see link above), the officer ordered a jogging Anderson who then said "somebody's trying to kill me" to get to the side of the street and then to stand by the wall of a nearby building. He went back into the street to be seen by others. After other cops showed up, he was ordered to get on the ground which he did. He was asked to get on his stomach which he refused to do so he was physically restrained. He was tasered for several minutes even though he was already subdued.
Anderson was transported to a local hospital where he died four hours and a half later from the resulting cardiac arrest. The LAPD showed a toxicology report claiming it shows that Anderson's blood tested positive for cannabis and cocaine. The Los Angeles County is expected to get a separate report. Sources: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64252337, https://www.npr.org/2023/01/14/1149132089/keenan-anderson-patrisse-cullors-lapd-body-cam-footage
The deadly actions of the cops look unjustified. If you see someone displaying erratic behavior, the first thing that should come into your mind is mental health crisis. This is meant to be a medical emergency. This requires a medical professional. You don't need to treat the person like a criminal which those cops did to Anderson. A lot of people would say that he should have simply complied, they are ignorant. Such an excuse is trash. Bodily contact is for failure to comply. It is the deadly response that matters. If someone is subdued, why are you administering a dose of electricity? This man was already tightly held on to the ground. For deadly force to be used by cops, they must be in danger or a civilian at least must be in immediate danger. The force can only be used on the spot. When someone says things like "please", "help" and "they're trying to George Floyd me!", does it put anyone's life in danger? No. The actions of the cops were inexcusable and disgusting. As for the toxicology report that the LAPD represented as the results of Anderson's blood test, I am not buying that. What do yo think about the actions of the cops?
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