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Topline:
Keenan Anderson, 31, died Jan. 3 after an LAPD officer tased him multiple times. The department said Anderson was trying to flee a car accident. Now, attorneys representing his family say they’ve filed a $50 million claim for damages against the city of Los Angeles citing “unreasonable” and “excessive force.”
Backstory: LAPD Chief Michel Moore released officer body-worn camera footage of the incident last week. An officer can be seen repeatedly tasing Anderson. At one point Anderson says “They’re trying to George Floyd Me.” Hours after he was tased, Anderson went into cardiac arrest and died at a Santa Monica hospital. Anderson’s family said he was a dedicated English teacher in Washington D.C. and was coping with the recent death of two of his students due to gun violence.
What’s next: Attorney Carl Douglas will represent Anderson’s five-year-old son and the boy’s mother, Gabrielle Hansell. Ben Crump, who represented the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, will be co-counsel. They plan to ask the civil rights division of the Department of Justice to open an investigation.
The quote: “We can only wonder what Keenan Anderson meant when he said ‘They’re trying to George Floyd me.’ 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,” Crump told a press conference Friday.
