What The Video Footage Reveals: The video starts with Anderson flagging down a police officer on a motorcycle on Lincoln Boulevard in Venice. “Please help me,” Anderson says. The bike cop rides around the corner and discovers a multiple-vehicle car collision. Several drivers point toward Anderson and identify him as the person responsible for the collision.
The bike cop catches backup with Anderson at the northeast corner of Venice Boulevard and Lincoln Boulevard. “Get off to the side,” the officer orders. “Somebody's trying to kill me,” Anderson repeatedly says before getting down to his knees.
The bike cop calls for additional units while Anderson rambles and fidgets around on the ground. The video cuts and picks up seven minutes later. About a minute after the video resumes, Anderson walks away from the cop.
The officer mounts his bike again and catches up with Anderson in the middle of Venice Boulevard just west of Lincoln, close to where they were before. “Turn over on your stomach right now!” He yells.
Body-worn camera footage shows two officers responding to the scene as the traffic officer orders Anderson onto his stomach. The officers all grab Anderson, lift him up and bring him back to the ground on his stomach.
Eventually, Anderson ends up on his back, “help, help, they’re trying to kill me,” he shouts. “Turn over, or I’m going to tase you,” an officer repeatedly says while another officer appears to pin Anderson’s head to the ground with their forearm pressed on Anderson’s neck. “I can't…” Anderson begins to say.
“Watch, watch your elbow partner,” another officer says before Anderson turns on his stomach.
A struggle to gain control of Anderson continues. “They’re trying to kill me,” Anderson shouts as he’s tased on his back multiple times. In total, Anderson appears to be tased at least five times in the back before he’s handcuffed.
“They’re trying to kill me,” Anderson says while a police officer binds his legs together. “No, nobody is trying to kill you,” an officer responds.
Minutes later, paramedics who were called to the scene to render aid for the taser reportedly transported Anderson to a local hospital. Approximately four and half hours after being tased and pinned to the ground by police, Anderson went into cardiac arrest and died, a department spokesperson says in the video.
LAPD policy states that there is no “pre-set limit of number of times” a taser can be used in a tactical situation. “However, officers should generally avoid repeated or simultaneous activations to avoid potential injury to the suspect.” Fellow officers are required to “intercede when present and observing another officer using force that is clearly beyond that which is necessary.”
Background: Police departments in California have a 45-day window to release video footage related to shootings and other use of force instances due to state law. The LAPD calls these videos “critical incident community briefings.” These videos are usually heavily edited and feature police officers walking viewers through what happened. Some departments collaborate with private PR firms to craft these videos.
The LAPD and many other police departments often wait more than a month to release relevant video footage. So the release of this video, eight days after the incident occurred, is notable. In addition to this video, LAPD released two other “critical incident” videos on their YouTube channel related to two fatal shootings that also happened last week.
Takar Smith and Oscar Leon were fatally shot by Los Angeles police last week. According to family members, both men reportedly suffered mental health crises during the shootings.
