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Keenan Darnell Anderson: Bodycam shows BLM founder's cousin in 'drug induced delirium' before being tased

Keenan Anderson, 31, died on January 3 after being arrested for allegedly causing a traffic accident, attempting to evade police, and obstructing arrest

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A new bodycam video sheds some additional light on the terrible incident that claimed the life of Keenan Darnell Anderson, a Los Angeles resident and a cousin of BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors. 

Anderson, 31, died on Tuesday, January 3 after being held by many police officers for allegedly causing a traffic accident, attempting to evade police, and obstructing arrest. He was acting strangely and exhibiting other symptoms when he was repeatedly tased by police officers in the middle of a busy Los Angeles street. After the tasing event, he was sent to a nearby hospital where he spent the next four and a half hours before dying from a medical emergency. A preliminary toxicology study stated that cannabis and a cocaine metabolite were discovered in his system.

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The Los Angeles Police Department stated that Anderson was in the middle of the street "exhibiting erratic behavior" and had caused a car accident in the Venice neighborhood. The Los Angeles Police Department's more than 19-minute-long video content of the tasing event depicts Anderson acting erratically and strolling in the street without shoes.

The police department appears to have released the incident's video sooner than usual given that "body worn video" is typically revealed "45 days following a serious incident." The LAPD has designated Anderson's death as having occurred while "in custody," and it has stated that its Force Investigation Division would look into the matter.

Earlier, Patrisse Cullors had revealed that her cousin Keenan Anderson died as a result of a Taser incident with Los Angeles Police Department. "My cousin was an educator and worked with high school aged children. He was an English teacher," Cullors' post said." "LAPD has killed three people this year. One of them is my family member. Keenan deserves to be alive right now, his child deserves to be raised by his father. Keenan we will fight for you and for all of our loved ones impacted by state violence. I love you."

Many individuals have reacted to the new body cam footage on Twitter, with one person writing, "It's almost as if he had listened to the officer's commands, he'd be alright." Another person wrote, "He was tripping hard. Just so sad he was too high to sit there like the officer asked. RIP."

A third person wrote, "Drug induced delirium. One of the most complicated conditions a police officer faces due to the suspects heart already being accelerated due to drugs then stress of being arrested combined with irrational behaviour." Another individual wrote, "He got arrested because he is high as a kite. Nothing wrong here."

"RIP! I think we need better police training. I’m not saying he did nothing wrong but he did not violently resist bro was in fear & tweaking off of some type of substance. Cops should be trained to know when someone is in fear/off a substance VS someone trying to violently resist," one person with a brief suggestion wrote.