A Black Los Angeles-based filmmaker is suing the local police department after he said his uncle, a member of the force, instructed an officer to fire non-lethal projectiles at him during the George Floyd protests last summer.
In a press conference last week, Asim Jamal Shakir Jr. and his attorney announced the filing of a personal injury civil rights lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department for the May 2020 incident.
“This is a remarkable story that I call bluer than blood,” civil rights attorney Carl Douglas said.
During the evening of May 29, 2020, Shakir was participating in demonstrations in the Los Angeles area when police formed a skirmish line. The 23-year-old started live streaming the scene and noticed that his uncle, Eric Anderson, was among the officers present, according to The Guardian.
Anderson allegedly demanded that his nephew go home, and is seen later on video motioning for an officer to shoot a “less-than-lethal” rifle at him.
“My own uncle … told him to shoot me!” he said on the video as he retreated from the scene.
The Guardian reports that the complaint indicated that a second projectile hit him in the rear as he went to pick up his phone. Shakir later sought treatment at a hospital as a result of the harrowing assault.
While the livestream recording doesn’t clearly capture the officer firing at Shakir, it does appear to show his uncle pointing in his direction prior to a barrage of shots.
The young filmmaker’s lawyer expressed that Anderson’s instruction was not a verbal command, but one that he had directed with his motion toward Shakir.
In his livestream footage, Shakir is screaming in pain and drops his phone after shots are fired at him. After a brief interruption, the 23-year-old re-engages with the recording, showing that he was hit and suffered an injury to his hand.
Douglas said the officer who fired at his client has not been identified and said that Anderson was not the officer armed with the “less-than-lethal” rifle.
“This whole entire situation has been a tragedy and nothing short of a nightmare,” Shakir said at the Tuesday press conference. “This is not just for me – it’s for the people that don’t have the opportunity to speak out, that don’t have the opportunity to voice their pain and their hurt.”
The 23-year-old’s suit is one of many legal complaints made against the city of Los Angeles in response to the use of force against demonstrators. On Monday, the same day Shakir suit was filed, a federal judge ruled against the police department’s use of certain types of projectiles at protests, according to The L.A. Times.
“This young Black male activist called for his own blood, his own uncle, to think about the immorality of what he was doing, and the result was his uncle ordering the shooting of his nephew with rubber bullets,” Melina Abdullah, a BLM LA co-founder, said. “That just speaks volumes to the complete lack of any kind of moral character, and what happens when people become police … They are willing to even sacrifice their own family in order to advance the interests of a police state.”
Initially, Douglas filed a damages claim last year and called for Shakir's uncle to be fired. The attorney indicated that his client is now estranged from his relative and said that the incident has caused his family a great deal of pain.
“LAPD has not only injured this young man, but torn this family apart,” Douglas said.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has declined to issue a statement on the case, referring to its pending litigation.
A spokesman for the LAPD union did not comment on the allegations made against Anderson but said in a statement that police experienced violence and “riotous behavior” during the protests last year.
“We encourage everyone to withhold judgment until all the facts of the case are presented,” they added.
