LOS ANGELES — A prominent Black female physician in Los Angeles was granted a continuance for her Domestic Violence Restraining Order hearing against community activist Ronald Todd Eskew also known as Najee Ali. In granting the continuance on Apr. 13, the Honorable Laura Cohen of Los Angeles Superior Court’s Central District also kept in place a temporary restraining order against Ali. The hearing was continued to May 4 at 8:30 a.m. in Stanley Mosk Dept. — 94. Najee Ali is a Los Angeles-based celebrated community activist and self-proclaimed police collaborator with close ties to LAPD leadership and city officials. Ali, is the founder and president of the Muslim Democratic Club of Southern California. Despite his long criminal history and continued allegations about his behavior, he is regularly quoted in the Los Angeles Times and other news media as the voice and representation of Black people in the city.
The doctor requested the order Mar. 3 in an attempt to stop Ali from harassing, threatening, and bullying her and her boyfriend after she broke off their four-year affair in January of this year. In court filings, the doctor said, “Mr. Ali became very agitated and aggressive after I ended the relationship and sent me a series of threatening messages, including sexually explicit pictures and a video of myself, which were taken without my knowledge or consent.”She continued, “In two of the photos, I am sleep. I have never seen these pictures or video before. Additionally, Mr. Ali texted that I am a whore, he hoped I would die, and that my parents would be ashamed. He also began calling and texting my boyfriend incessantly. Moreover, he sent my boyfriend the above-referenced pictures and videos. He, again, attempted to provoke my boyfriend into a physical altercation.” The filing includes a copy of the report information from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Marina Del Rey Station dated Jan. 23. To support her claim of harassment and bullying, the doctor provided numerous text messages from Ali in which he uses vulgar profanity while admitting to the affair. In one, Ali says, “… you look old, black and aging poorly.” In other text messages, Ali refers to the doctor as a “hoe,” “whore,” and “cheating whore” with no integrity or character. Ali has been married to Dr. Felicia Banks-Ali for the past seven years, including during the time of his admitted affair.
Ali’s victim told the court that, “Mr. Ali baseline nature is hostility and aggression. He is too easily provoked. He can be calm and then becomes enraged in seconds. During our first sexual encounter, he choked me so hard, I could not breathe.” In several text messages, Ali threatens the victim by telling her that he is going to email her boyfriend videos and photos of their past sexual encounters. Ali texted, “Come clean now to him and admit you a whore to him before he checks that email and gets the shock of his life.” According to court documents, Ali emailed the victim’s boyfriend photos and videos he had taken of her without her knowing or permission. According to the victim, Ali was stalking her and, at times, waited outside her house for hours. She said, “subsequently, Mr. Ali told me he parked his car near our house with a gun. He told me he was in the car for hours because he was upset with my boyfriend, who told him to leave me alone. Mr. Ali said he could have my boyfriend murdered for a few hundred dollars.” An admitted member of the notorious 73 (Seven Tray) Gangster Crips, in 2015, after the LAPD shooting death of 43-year-old Charly “Africa” Leundeu Keunang on Skid Row, Najee Ali took to Facebook to attack and “gang bang” on human rights attorney Nana Gyamfi. Najee Ali is no stranger to accusations from Black women of violence and abusive behavior. Arrested for rape three times, in 2017, Ali was ousted as the National Action Network (NAN) Los Angeles Chapter’s political director after his current wife, Dr. Felicia Banks-Ali, came forward about being physically abused by him. In the wake of the allegations, NAN, both locally in Los Angeles and nationally, under the leadership and direction of Rev. Al Sharpton, cut all ties with him.
Also in 2017, during a meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission, Ali publicly threatened physical harm to Black Lives Matter leaders Dr. Melina Abdullah and Jasmine Abdullah (not related).In a video of the incident, Ali can be seen calling Jasmine Abdullah a felon, referencing her 2017 conviction for attempted “lynching” which was later reduced to a misdemeanor.A multiple felon, Najee Ali’s most recent stint in prison came after he was found guilty in 2008 of trying to tamper with a witness outside of his daughter’s preliminary hearing. For that, he received four years. Jasmin Eskew, Najee’s daughter, was awaiting trial on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of leaving the scene of an accident stemming from an incident in July 2007 involving her vehicle and a group of motorcyclists on the San Bernardino Freeway. As the Los Angeles Times reported back then, “Ali would have received two years in prison, but a prior robbery conviction in 1992 doubled his time to four years, Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said. The judge also found that Ali had violated his probation in a 2004 case in which he was convicted of felony hit-and-run after leaving the scene of an accident while he was on bail for another charge of purchasing false documents to be able to get two driver’s licenses from the Department of Motor Vehicles.Ali has had a number of requests for restraining orders filed against him dating back as far as 1988.In 2006, Congresswoman Maxine Waters was granted a restraining order against Ali. She told the Los Angeles Times that he had confronted her on several occasions, and she believed he was attempting to set her up. The restraining order also stated that Ali threatened to get her someday. In court files, she said Ali is “attempting to create a situation that will appear to be harassment in order to sue me. He will stalk me. I’m very public.” Before she passed away, Laura Hendricks, a merchant in Leimert Park, had to get two restraining orders against Ali for intimidation and harassment.The next court date is scheduled for May 4 at 8:30 a.m. in Stanley Mosk Dept. – 94, where the judge will decide on whether or not to grant a permanent restraining order barring him from all contact with the victim for at least three years.
If you or someone you know have been affected by domestic abuse, I encourage you to reach out: The National Domestic Violence Hotline: http://thehotline.org • 1800-799-SAFE (7233).