The family of a 31-year-old father who died after being tased by Los Angeles police officers is suing the city and members of the department over his death, their attorneys announced on Monday.
The wrongful death lawsuit claims officers reacted inappropriately when they repeatedly tased Keenan Anderson, cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, in early January, according to civil right attorney Ben Crump.
Anderson, an English teacher who was visiting Los Angeles from Washington DC, lost consciousness shortly after he was tased at the site of a traffic collision in Los Angeles' Venice neighborhood.
He was taken to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, according to the county medical examiner's office.
Anderson's manner of death remains undetermined, but the coroner found that he died of an enlarged heart and cocaine use. An autopsy conducted at the behest of the family lawyers reached the same conclusion, attorney Carl Douglas said.
"Had he not been tased," said Crump, "Keenan Anderson would be here today."
"What killed him was an overdose of excessive force, it's that simple," Crump said, explaining that while Anderson was having a mental health crisis, he was "not a threat to anyone."
The family is seeking $100 million over Anderson's death, Crump said in a news conference announcing the lawsuit.
Edited footage from body worn cameras provided by the LAPD shows parts of the interaction between Anderson and the responding officers. One officer can be heard warning Anderson to stop resisting and turn over, and threatening to tase him.
Los Angeles police said at the time that they responded to a traffic collision and saw Anderson "running in the middle of the street and exhibiting erratic behavior." On one officer's body-worn camera, released and edited by police, a woman at the traffic collision site tells police, "I think that guy up there needs help though, because the guy's trying to run away."
The footage shows Anderson initially stopped and spoke to an officer before the video cuts to a text screen that says Anderson "attempted to run away."
As police struggled to arrest Anderson, they tased him repeatedly, the body-worn camera footage shows.
"They're trying to George Floyd me," Anderson said as officers attempt to roll him onto his stomach.
The lawsuit claims police "misinterpret Mr. Anderson's efforts to struggle for air and squirming in response to the unlawful application of taser force, as evidence of his active resistance."
Speaking on behalf of the LAPD, Officer Matthew Cruz told CNN the department does not comment on ongoing litigation.
Anderson taught tenth-grade English at Digital Pioneers Academy in Washington, DC, and was the father to a 6-year-old boy, according to a statement from the school's founder released after his death.