Kisha Smith
Attorneys representing the family of Keenan Darnell Anderson, the teacher who died after being repeatedly tased by Los Angeles Police Department officers on January 3rd, have filed a $50 million claim against the City over his death. A lawsuit is expected to follow.
Keenan Darnell Anderson begged for his life and cried out that they were trying to “George Floyd” him as he was tased after a confrontation sparked by a traffic accident he admittedly caused as they attempted to take him into custody. He died several hours later of cardiac arrest.
The claim maintains that the officers involved used “reasonably deadly force” in the arrest of the 31-year-old father, who is the cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors.
“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 told reporters. “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.”
The claim was in fact brought on behalf of his son, Syncere Kai Anderson and his estate.
According to the claim, “The City of Los Angeles failed to properly train the involved officers based on standards taught at the Peace Officers Standards and Training program on the alternative ways of detaining citizens, rather than by using unreasonable deadly force… Alternatively, each of the unknown involved Police officers who were present negligently, carelessly, and mistakenly activated a taser repeatedly against Mr. Anderson’s body. The taser then sends 50,000 watts of electrical energy into Mr. Anderson’s body which was a substantial factor leading to his death.”
“We can only wonder what Keenan Anderson meant,” attorney Ben Crump said of Anderson’s reference to George Floyd. “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.”
Result of the official autopsy from the L.A. Coroner’s office have not yet been released.
The city has 45 days to either accept or deny the claim. If the claim is denied attorneys Carl Douglas and Ben Crump will file a state lawsuit asserting wrongful death and negligence.