The cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors died after being tasered by a police officer in Los Angeles following a traffic accident.
Keenan Darnell Anderson, 31, died at a hospital in Santa Monica, California, after suffering a cardiac arrest following the 3 January incident.
Ms Cullors told NBC News that Anderson, a Black man, had flagged down police and was asking for help following the accident in the Venice neighbourhood of Los Angeles.
LAPD released officer body-camera footage of Anderson’s arrest on Wednesday.
Authorities say that an officer was flagged down after a crash took place, and the officer stated that Anderson was acting erratically and running in the middle of the street.
The bodycam footage of the incident shows Anderson telling the officer “Please help me” before he takes off running.
He then told the officer that someone was trying to kill him, eventually putting his hands up in the air and telling the officer, “I didn’t mean to.”
When additional officers arrived at the scene, Anderson again took off running, LAPD spokesperson Kelly Muñiz said in a video statement.
“The officers gave chase and ordered Anderson to stop. Anderson ultimately stopped and was ordered to get on the ground. As the officers attempted to take Anderson into custody, he became increasingly agitated, uncooperative, and resisted the officers,” she said.
Anderson was eventually pinned down on the floor by an officer, and shouted, “They’re trying to George Floyd me,” in reference to the Black man killed by police officers during a May 2020 incident in Minnesota.
As a struggle developed between officers and Anderson, one officer deployed his taser weapon. Anderson was then handcuffed and taken to the hospital where he died.
LAPD chief Michael Moore said that Anderson had committed a felony hit-and-run and attempted to get into another person’s car “without their permission.”
The department’s toxicology report showed the victim tested positive for cocaine metabolite and cannabinoids, according to Ms Muñiz
The Los Angeles County Coroner has not yet issued an official cause of death.
“Our family can never know what truly happened that day because we weren’t there. What we do know is that Keenan was in a supposed accident and he asked for help and in that process, he died,” added Ms Cullors. “How did this result in his death?”
