Filmmaker claims LAPD uncle ordered him shot with projectiles during George Floyd protest
A young filmmaker is suing the city of Los Angeles and his LAPD uncle with claims his uniformed relative ordered him shot with projectiles during a protest in downtown Los Angeles last May following the death of George Floyd.
A. Jamal Shakir Jr. claims he and his uncle Eric Anderson acknowledged each other at the May 29 protest before the relative motioned to a fellow officer to fire “less than lethal” projectiles at Shakir.
The projectiles hit Shakir in his hand and buttocks, causing him to bleed and seek medical treatment, his complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court states.
“This lawsuit demonstrates the heart-rending extent to which the current ‘warrior’ mentality permeates the Los Angeles Police Department, threatening to destroy a Black family to its core from within,” the 15-page complaint filed Monday says.
“A police supervisor turned his trained wrath against a member of his own family, leaving a promising young entrepreneur, his own blood, scarred and reeling in the wake of his malicious attack,” the filing alleges.
An LAPD spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit when reached by the Daily News on Tuesday.
“Due to pending litigation, we are unable to provide further information,” the department spokesman said in an email.
According to his lawsuit, Shakir, 23, was “peacefully” filming near the intersection of 4th St. and Spring St. in Los Angeles when protesters began asking officers to kneel in honor of Floyd’s tragic May 25 death under the knee of a Minnesota cop later convicted of murder.
Shakir recognized his uncle in the line of officers and implored him to “drop his arms” before the uncle shouted out his name and told him to “go home,” according to the complaint.
The filmmaker responded by suggesting one of their shared ancestors would be “turning over in her grave” if she saw the officer in that moment, and then “suddenly and without warning,” Anderson “motions his hand in Shakir’s direction and directs another police officer to shoot him,” the lawsuit alleges.
After he was struck twice, Shakir ran from the scene “terrified and fearful of further attacks,” the paperwork alleges.
The lawsuit, filed by lawyers Carl Douglas and Jamon Hicks, includes claims of assault and battery as well as civil rights violations.
