A jury Thursday rejected claims made by Melina Abdullah, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter in Los Angeles, in a civil rights suit regarding the police department’s response to swatting prank at her home in 2020.
The Los Angeles Superior Court panel deliberated for about a half day before finding in favor of the city. Abdullah contended that she and her children were forced out of her home at gunpoint on Aug. 12, 2020, during the tense months following the death in May of that year of George Floyd.
“Swatting” pertains to fake 911 calls to made to police departments involving specific addresses. Some 20 LAPD officers, many in SWAT tactical gear, surrounded the home.
“Plaintiff was ordered out of her home at gunpoint,” Abdullah’s lawyers stated in their court papers. “She thought she was going to be killed, but left the house because she did not want the police shooting into her home since her children were inside.
Abdullah sought emotional distress damages stemming from her belief she could be shot.
“It was not accidental,” Abdullah said at the time. “They were not coming to … keep me safe. They were coming to evoke terror. They were coming to terrorize.”
Abdullah further said previously that she believed what she called an overwhelming show of force by the LAPD was retribution for the large-scale protests throughout Los Angeles that summer after Floyd’s death.
In their court papers, the City Attorney’s Office maintained that LAPD Officers James Mankey and Jose Perez, whose conduct was highly scrutinized in the case, did not know Abdullah lived at the Welllington Road home.
In addition, the union that represents the LAPD officers defended the response, calling it “swift and professional.”