LOS ANGELES – Attorneys for an activist who co-founded Black Lives Matter LA and sued the city over the LAPD’s conduct in a false hostage report at the plaintiff’s home are seeking background records of some department members, including those who knew her phone numbers.
The Aug. 12, 2020 call brought police officers to Melina Abdullah’s residence, and the Los Angeles Police Department later branded the episode “swatting,” meaning someone deliberately made a false 911 call so armed police would be summoned.
Abdullah was at home with her children and there was no intruder or hostage taker, according to her Los Angeles Superior Court suit brought in September 2021.
In their court papers filed Tuesday with Judge Rupert Byrdsong, Abdullah’s lawyers are seeking information regarding “complaints of excessive force, bias against certain racial or ethnic groups and dishonesty, including false testimony and fabrication of evidence” against LAPD Sgt. James Mankey and Officer Jose Perez.
“The discovery sought is relevant to the incident that led to (Abdullah) being forced out of her home at gunpoint and being forced to endure ongoing terror while a shotgun was pointed at her by members of a police department that she is widely known for criticizing,” the activist’s lawyers argue in their court papers.
“The requested materials, pertaining to the officer who pointed the shotgun at Plaintiff and the sergeant who ordered to have plaintiff ordered out of her home, are relevant to establishing plaintiff’s claims.”
Abdullah’s attorneys also want to know the identities of LAPD members “who possessed the number to plaintiff’s personal cell phone and/or plaintiff’s personal home landline” on the day police arrived as well as the department policies in place at the time for contacting the occupants of a home when an emergency is reported.
A hearing on Abdullah’s motion is scheduled for July 10.