Keenan Anderson: Police board finds 2 officers violated use of force policy

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners Tuesday found the actions of five officers involved in Keenan Anderson's death, particularly the repeated use of a Taser and the use of pressure on Anderson's neck, did not fall within department policy.

Anderson died on Jan. 3 shortly after a traffic accident at the intersection of Lincoln Boulevard and Venice Boulevard in Venice. During the incident, Anderson flagged down an LAPD officer directing him toward a crash. After officers investigated the crash, they realized Anderson had been involved. In trying to approach him, Anderson ran away from the scene. The investigation revealed that eventually, five officers restrained Anderson, and one officer Tasered him multiple times.

He was then taken to an area hospital where he died four hours later. The LA County Medical Examiner ruled his death was caused by the effects of an enlarged heart and cocaine use.

In a closed session on Tuesday, the Board of Police Commissioners analyzed the actions of Officer Joshua Coombs, Officers Stephen Feldman, Christopher Walters, Rasheen Ford, and Jaime Fuentes. The analysis covered various aspects, including their de-escalation tactics, the use of the Taser, and the pressure officers applied to Anderson's neck during the restraint.

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While the board found Coombs Feldman and Walters' use of force to be within department policy, they found Ford and Fuentes applied pressure to Anderson's neck in nine separate instances, and therefore not within LAPD policy.

In his analysis, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said he did not find Anderson to pose an imminent deadly threat, which therefore did not warrant deadly force.

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In Ford's case, Moore found that Ford's "arm was in a position to apply pressure that compromised Anderson’s ability to breathe," which Moore said, "was noted by Anderson’s struggle to speak and Officer Fuentes advising Officer Ford to watch his elbow." 

In the case of Fuentes, both the Board and Moore found that Fuentes had inadvertently applied pressure to Anderson's trachea while restraining him. However, despite the accidental nature of the contact, the department determined that the policy does not make exceptions for such incidents.

Fuentes was also found to have misused his Taser during the interaction. In the Board's review, they found Fuentes to have used his Taser on Anderson six times in less than a minute, which they found to be excessive.

All five of the officers involved were found to be in violation of department policy on particular tactics and uniform violations. Overall, Fuentes and Ford were the only ones who were found to have violated use-of-force policies.

As of Tuesday night, it's still unclear what discipline, if any, the officers will face in the case.