Keenan Anderson — LAPD Tased 6 Times, Died Hours Later
On January 3, 2023, Keenan Anderson, a 31-year-old high school English teacher and cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, was involved in a traffic collision in Venice. LAPD officers responding to the scene restrained Anderson and tased him six times. He died approximately four and a half hours later of cardiac arrest. Anderson was the first of three people killed by LAPD in the first week of 2023. Body camera footage showed Anderson pleading "Please help me" and "They're trying to kill me." His family filed a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city.
What Happened
On January 3, 2023, Keenan Anderson, 31, was involved in a traffic collision at Venice Boulevard and Lincoln Boulevard in Los Angeles. When LAPD officers arrived, Anderson was in the middle of the road and appeared to be in distress. Body camera footage showed officers attempting to restrain him as he repeatedly pleaded: "Please help me" and "They're trying to kill me."
Officers tased Anderson six times during the encounter. He was then transported to a hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest approximately four and a half hours later and died. Anderson was a high school English teacher and the father of a young son.
The LA County coroner determined the cause of death was "cardiac arrest following physical exertion, physical restraint, and recent electro-muscular disruption" -- the same clinical language used in the Chinedu Okobi taser death in San Mateo County in 2018. The coroner also noted the presence of cocaine in Anderson's system and an enlarged heart condition (cardiomegaly).
Anderson was the first of three people killed by LAPD in the first five days of 2023, a wave of police killings that drew intense national scrutiny to the department.
Key Players
Timeline
Why This Matters
The death of Keenan Anderson exposed LAPD's continued reliance on tasers as a first resort rather than a last resort, despite growing evidence that repeated taser deployments can be lethal -- particularly for individuals with underlying cardiac conditions. The clinical language in his autopsy mirrors taser deaths across California, including Chinedu Okobi's death in San Mateo County. Anderson's case also highlighted the racial dimensions of LAPD's use of force: three people killed in five days, all of them people of color, at the start of a year when the department was already under scrutiny for excessive force.