Keenan Anderson, a 31-year-old English teacher and cousin of Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of the movement Black Lives Mattersuffered a cardiac arrest and died after receiving several electric shocks in an action by the Los Angeles Police, as reported by the authorities of the Californian city.
The incident occurred on January 3, although it has come to light this week. The case began with a traffic accident without major consequences caused, according to the Police, by Anderson. A series of police videos released on Wednesday show how the agents in a vehicle locate the man in the surroundings of the event, who appears confused and agitated.
Initially, Anderson talks to the agents, but at one point he runs away. A fragment of the video shows how an agent catches up with him and orders him to lie face down on the ground.
The agents reduce him by force to stop him. As can be seen in the edited images of the videos, at least one of them announces that he is going to apply electric shocks to her and proceeds to use a taser pistol to avoid Anderson’s resistance. The officers “struggled with Anderson for several minutes, using a taser, his own weight, firm grips with his arms, and joint braces to overcome his resistance,” an official statement said.
The videos show how Anderson protests, asks for help and begins to shout that “they want to kill me” and that “they are trying to do the same to me as to George Floyd”, the citizen whose death by suffocation due to excessive police force triggered a wave of protests across the United States in 2020 and the birth of Black Lives Matter.
After finally being arrested, Anderson was transferred to a hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest and died, about four and a half hours after receiving the shocks. Police indicate in the videos that a preliminary toxicology analysis came back positive for marijuana and cocaine in blood samples from the teacher, although forensics are expected to carry out their own independent tests.
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“My cousin died at the hands of the Los Angeles Police,” Patrisse Cullor has declared on Instagram, “my cousin should be alive right now. All the victims of a police action should be alive right now”.
Anderson, who lived in Washington and taught at an elementary school in the US capital, was in Los Angeles to visit relatives. His is the third death in police interventions in the Californian city so far this year, after the deaths by shooting of Takar Smith, 45, and Oscar Sánchez, 35.
“Our community is in mourning. But we are also furious. Angry that once again a known, loved and respected member of our community is no longer with us. Angry that another beautiful and talented black soul has left too soon,” said Mashea Ashton, the principal of the school where Anderson taught, in a statement quoted by CNN television.
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