The family of Cameroonian national Charly Leundeu Keunang plans to publicly discuss today its $20 million claim against the city over his shooting death on Skid Row by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Accompanied by their attorneys, family members will hold a news conference outside the LAPD’s downtown police headquarters at 100 W. First St. starting at 11:30 a.m., according to a family representative.
Keunang was killed March 1 by LAPD officers. His sister, Line Foming, and their parents, Heleine Tchayou and Isaac Keunang, accuse the city, LAPD and its officers of excessive force, assault and battery, wrongful death and constitutional violations. The family alleges the officers involved triggered a struggle that ended in a “cop-created killing.”
Lawyers for Keunang’s family called on Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey to investigate the death, release police body camera video and criminally charge the three officers who opened fire, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“Law enforcement officers are trained to de-escalate situations and to only use lethal force as a last resort,” the family said in the claim, a legal precursor to a civil suit. “The LAPD officers who killed Mr. Keunang violated these protocols and their reckless mistakes and misconduct resulted in this unnecessary death.”
Authorities have said Keunang, 43, struggled with one of the officers over his gun during an intense melee. A witness disputed the account.
The claim against the city says six LAPD officers “attacked Mr. Keunang, Tasing him, tackling him to the concrete and repeatedly striking him with their fists and batons. … The officers then shot Mr. Keunang six times from point-blank range as they held him down on the sidewalk.”
Millions of people viewed the confrontation after a witness uploaded a video to Facebook. The shooting brought to light rising tensions between police and homeless people on skid row as downtown Los Angeles’ economic renaissance has left them behind.
Police officials said officers went to talk to Keunang on a robbery call. In surveillance video of the scene, he retreated to his tent, then emerged swinging when they pulled him out. An officer can be heard making repeated comments about his gun, though his exact words are unclear, the newspaper reported.
Police Chief Charlie Beck told reporters that the officer said, “He has my gun.” The family’s lawyer, Dan Stormer of Pasadena, said the officer’s gun never came out of his holster. The video showed the officer removing his gun from the holster after the shooting.
