Attorneys representing the 5-year-old son of Keenan Anderson, who died after being repeatedly tased by Los Angeles police following a traffic collision, filed a $50 million claim against the city, the Associated Press reports.
The claim is the first step needed to file a lawsuit against the city for wrongful death and civil rights violations after he was restrained and shocked six times with a Taser in less than a minute on January 3.
“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. “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?”
CNN reports the claim demands $35 million for Anderson’s son and $15 million for Anderson’s estate, saying that the city “failed to properly train the involved officers.”
Anderson, a cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, was repeatedly tased by officers after a traffic collision on January 3, video from officers’ body cameras shows. The 31-year-old was an English teacher in Washington, DC and was in Los Angeles visiting family.
Video released by the department shows Anderson screaming for help after being repeatedly shocked and pinched to the ground. An officer can also be seen pressing his forearm on Anderson’s chest and placing an elbow on his neck, according to CNN.
“They’re trying to George Floyd me,” Anderson said in reference to the Black man whose death at the hands of Minnesota police in 2020 sparked a global reckoning on race.
“We can only wonder what Keenan Anderson meant,” attorney Ben Crump said. “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 did George Floyd him.”
Anderson went into cardiac arrest after being subdued and died four hours later at a hospital. The claim alleges that officers employed excessive force, misapplied Tasers, failed to follow instructions when handcuffing Anderson and conspired to conceal and distort information in police reports.
The officers have not yet been identified, but their union issued a statement accusing the family and attorneys of “trying to shamelessly profit” from a “tragic incident.
The city reportedly has 45 days to accept or deny the claim, and if it denies the claim, the estate’s legal team will file a state lawsuit.