Keenan Anderson’s family files $50 million lawsuit against LAPD after tasing death

The family of Keenan Anderson has filed a $50 million claim against the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on behalf of Anderson’s 5-year-old son. 

Anderson, a 31-year-old English teacher from Washington, D.C., died in an incident on Jan. 3 after police tased him six times in 42 seconds.

The LAPD in a Jan. 6 press release said Anderson had been seen “running in the middle of the street and exhibiting erratic behavior” after a car accident.

When officers arrived on the scene, Anderson was investigated for driving while intoxicated. At some point, police said Anderson stopped complying and was tased six times as they attempted to handcuff and place ankle hobbles on him.

LAPD Chief Michael Moore later reported a toxicology report found cocaine and cannabis in Anderson’s body. 

Anderson later died of cardiac arrest after being transported to a hospital.

The family’s claim alleges the officers used unreasonably deadly force and “negligently, carelessly, and mistakenly activated a taser repeatedly.”

The claim adds the officers’ actions were “intentionally malicious, oppressive, and despicable, and/or with a deliberate indifference to Mr. Anderson's rights and safety.” 

“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 said at a news conference, according to The Associated Press. “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 also alleges that officers failed to follow proper city training on the dangers of asphyxiation while handcuffing Anderson and that they “conspired” to distort information in false police reports.

During the arrest, Anderson can be heard through police-edited body camera footage yelling that officers were “trying to George Floyd me.” 

“We can only wonder what Keenan Anderson meant,” said civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is also representing the family, at a press conference. “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. They George Floyd him.”

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing the LAPD, has defended the officers involved in the incident, who have not been named by the LAPD.

In a statement, the union called on the rest of the police body camera footage to be released in order to show Anderson was the instigator in the Jan. 3 incident. 

“Minor auto accidents are usually handled with an exchange of information between the drivers and a call to one’s insurance carrier,” the union said. 

“On the other hand, when an individual who is high on cocaine is in an accident, tries to open the car door of an innocent driver, and then flees the scene by running into traffic, police officers must act. We demand that the Chief of Police release the missing 7-minutes of body-worn camera video (6:05 mark of Critical Incident Video) that will capture the entire episode with Mr. Anderson. We believe the missing video will confirm that Mr. Anderson was the one who escalated this tragic incident that his family and Mr. Crump are now trying to shamelessly profit from.”

Anderson is the third person to die in an LAPD-involved incident this year. 

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) issued a statement calling on the officers involved in all three incidents to be placed on immediate leave as internal investigations take place. 

“No matter what these investigations determine, however, the need for urgent change is clear,” Bass said. “We must reduce the use of force overall, and I have absolutely no tolerance for excessive force. We must also lead our city forward — finally — on the mental health crisis that has been allowed to grow, fester and cause so much harm to individual Angelenos, their families and our communities.”