A 31-year-old black American, the cousin of one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, has died just hours after receiving a series of electric shocks from a taser during his arrest, authorities in Los Angeles announced.
The January 3 incident has sparked mounting backlash and controversy this week, as police released video of Keenan Anderson’s arrest on Wednesday from officers’ handheld cameras.
“They try to make me like George Floyd”
We see this professor visibly feverish and agitated after being involved in a trivial traffic accident in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles. The officers use force to subdue him, pinning him to the ground where they beat him to make him stop struggling.
“Police wrestled with Anderson for several minutes, using a taser, body weight, firm grips and arm bars to overcome his resistance,” Los Angeles police said in a statement.
The video shows Keenan Anderson yelling “help,” “they’re trying to kill me,” or “they’re trying to do the same thing to me as George Floyd,” as an officer presses his elbow into his chest and neck.
On May 25, 2020, African-American George Floyd was suffocated to death by a Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee on his neck for nearly ten minutes. This police nonsense had sparked a protest movement in the United States and in other countries around the world, with the central slogan “Black Lives Matter” (“The lives of blacks matter”).
death from cardiac arrest
Taken to the hospital after his arrest, Keenan Anderson died of cardiac arrest.
“He was killed by the police,” Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of the Black Lives Matters movement, accused on Instagram. Keenan Anderson, who lived in Washington and was visiting Los Angeles, was his cousin.
“Keenan deserved to live, his son deserved to be raised by his father. Keenan, we will fight for you and all our loved ones who are victims of state violence,” he continued.
The death of Keenan Anderson brings to three the number of deaths involving police officers in the city of Los Angeles since the beginning of 2023, according to US media. The African-American mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, called for the immediate suspension of these police officers pending the results of the investigations.
“Regardless of the outcome of these investigations, the need for urgent change is clear. We must reduce the use of force, above all else, and I have no tolerance for excessive use of force,” Karen Bass said. Wednesday.
Source: BFM TV
