LOS ANGELES — The family of Keenan Anderson has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, alleging that police officers used excessive force when they piled on top of the 31-year-old teacher at a busy Venice intersection and Tasered him after a minor traffic collision this year.
Anderson’s relatives on Monday also reiterated their demand that the department identify the officers involved in the Jan. 3 incident, which drew widespread condemnations and reignited a debate over the role of police in traffic enforcement.
Carl Douglas, the attorney who filed the suit Friday on behalf of Anderson’s family, said an autopsy finding of cocaine in the 31-year-old’s bloodstream shouldn’t have necessitated the use of “excessive and unreasonable force” by officers. Anderson was in clear distress, and what he needed in that moment was medical care, not police intervention, he said.
