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The family of a 31-year-old Black man who died after being tased six times within 42 seconds has filed a $50 million claim against the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), The Hill reports.
Keenan Anderson, a Washington D.C. native who is the cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, died of cardiac arrest earlier this month after LAPD officers “negligently, carelessly, and mistakenly activated a taser repeatedly," according to a $50 million claim filed by the family on behalf of his 5-year-old son.
The claim alleges that officers used unreasonably deadly force in a way that was “intentionally malicious, oppressive, and despicable, and/or with a deliberate indifference to Mr. Anderson’s rights and safety.”
“If you Taser someone with 50,000 watts of electrical energy six times … is there really any wonder that moments later his heart will begin to flutter?” attorney Carl Douglas said at a press conference. “Is there any wonder why four hours later his heart could no longer withstand the pressure from that Taser and gave up, leaving a 5-year-old boy in his wake?”
According to a January 6 LAPD press release, Anderson was “running in the middle of the street and exhibiting erratic behavior” after a car accident before officers arrived on the scene.
While conducting a DUI investigation, police said Anderson stopped complying, prompting officers to tase him six times as they attempted to handcuff him. Anderson was transported to a hospital where he later died.
A toxicology report found cocaine and cannabis in Anderson’s body, LAPD Chief Michael Moore said.
In the claim against LAPD, the family also accuses officers of failing to follow proper training on the dangers of asphyxiation while handcuffing Anderson and alleges police “conspired” to distort information in reports.
Anderson can be heard yelling they're “trying to George Floyd me” during the arrest, according to police-edited body camera footage.
“We can only wonder what Keenan Anderson meant,” civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is also representing the family, said at a press conference. “But if he meant that he would end up dead at the end of the encounter at the hands of the Los Angeles Police Department then Keenan Anderson was correct. They George Floyd him.”
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