Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian was demanding answers Friday from Burbank officials after acquiring a video showing a pair of uniformed officers drop off a homeless man outside his district office in North Hollywood.
“We have known for years that neighboring cities were dumping unhoused people on the streets of Los Angeles. Here is the proof,” Krekorian said as he showed the video to reporters at a City Hall news conference earlier today.
Krekorian described what is in the video: a man emerging from the back seat of a Burbank police cruiser and apparently being released from handcuffs before holding his hands to his head, seemingly in emotional distress. The man then drops to his knees and rests his forehead on the sidewalk as the police vehicle drives off.
Krekorian’s office says the man was later located and given help. Krekorian is asking Burbank to explain its policies regarding homeless people.
“We in Los Angeles have worked long and hard to bring our unhoused neighbors off the streets by building interim shelters, tiny homes, navigation centers and supportive housing. Meanwhile, neighboring jurisdictions have simply removed unhoused people from their streets and dumped them on ours,” Krekorian said. “This is inhumane and inexcusable.”
In a statement published online Friday, the Burbank Police Department said it was aware of the video. The department said it is conducting an in-depth investigation, including the review of the police officers’ actions, available body worn and in-car camera footage, and interviews with witnesses.
“The Burbank Police Department remains committed to treating the unhoused community with compassion and respect, and thanks to Los Angeles City Council President for brining this matter to our attention,” the department said in its statement.
According to the department, officers initially responded to a call at 8:45 a.m. Thursday regarding a naked individual sitting at a bus stop near Buena Vista Street and Alameda Avenue, just outside Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.
Burbank officers found the man lucid and communicative, and offered him clothing. The individual refused to accept the clothes, and put on clothing he had. The man told officers he was homeless and had been transported to the hospital from the Sunland/Tujunga area.
The man told officers that he had a leg injury he had suffered many years ago, and that he had left the hospital voluntarily. The department said the man declined any medical services.
The officers offered to drive the man to a place of his choosing, the department noted. The individual asked to be taken to the Metro B (Red) Line station in North Hollywood.
On the way, the man asked Burbank officers to let him out of the patrol vehicle to get coffee. The officers complied, pulled over, and dropped off the man in the 5200 block of Lankershim Boulevard, near Magnolia Boulevard, one block from the station.
The video was obtained from a security camera and recorded directly in front of the Krekorian’s North Hollywood district office Thursday morning.
Krekorian is calling on the City Attorney, District Attorney and Attorney General of California’s offices to investigate both this incident and the alleged ongoing practice of one jurisdiction dumping its homeless and indigent residents on the streets of another. The council president said that he introduced a motion Friday to have the full council vote on the issue.
Part of the motion also requests the city of Burbank and its mayor and City Council to respond to this incident and provide the city of Los Angeles with their policies on homelessness, relocation of unhoused individuals and policy changes that will be made as a result of the incident.
The Los Angeles City Council’s Rules, Elections, Intergovernmental Relations Committee, as well as the Housing and Homeless Committee are expected to consider the motion next.
Krekorian said he believes Burbank Mayor Nick Schultz and four other City Council members are not aware of what happened. KNX News reported that at least one City Council member it contacted requested to see the video.
According to Krekorian’s staff who spoke with the man, he was seeking health care at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center when something happened that prompted hospital staff to determine him to be unruly. The Burbank Police Department responded to a hospital request to pick him up.
“We are aware of an incident Thursday morning on public property near the hospital,” according to a statement from the hospital. “Our understanding is that multiple calls were made to police, including one from a hospital security guard seeking help for a person on a city (Burbank) sidewalk who appeared to be in distress.”
The man had told Krekorian’s staff that he believed he had broken his leg. Krekorian’s staff could not confirm the injury, but in the video, the man can be seen falling to the ground and struggling to move.
Krekorian’s staff was not able to locate the man on Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s Homeless Management Information System. After asking him questions, they ascertained he had previous addresses outside Los Angeles, and he said he had only recently become homeless.
The council president noted that this is not the first time something like this has happened. According to Krekorian, in October 2022 Burbank Police Department officers dropped off someone at the Homeless Services Navigation Center in North Hollywood.
“At least that was a door to services,” Krekorian said. “We built the navigation centers specifically so people could drop in and have access to services.”
Krekorian emphasized that the city has dedicated well over a billion dollars to homeless services and housing just in the 2023-24 fiscal year. He added that the city will never be able to address these issues as long as other jurisdictions shirk their responsibilities.
“Part of the results of the motion will be, I hope, to have a more comprehensive discussion within the L.A. City Council because we’re all impacted by this,” Krekorian said. “We are going to extraordinary lengths (to address homelessness) and many of our neighbors are not providing services to people who are unhoused.”
The council president emphasized that homelessness is a regional issue caused by nationwide issues such as the opioid crisis, a failure to address mental health challenges and housing affordability.
“All of these are issues that impact the entire region, the entire state, even the entire nation. And yet, people look to Los Angeles City Hall to be the remedy for that, and we are doing more than our share to provide those remedies,” Krekorian said. “But people who are in public service in other areas need to start stepping up and doing their share.”