A Black Lives Matter leader in Los Angeles lost her lawsuit against the city’s police department. The lawsuit was about how the police handled fake emergency calls that led to a large police response at her home.
The police said that three teenagers, motivated by racial hate, were responsible for making these fake emergency calls, including two to the home of Melina Abdullah, who is a co-founder of BLM-LA and a professor at Cal State LA. These fake calls are known as “swatting,” where someone calls the police with a fake emergency to send them to a specific address.
Abdullah criticized how the LAPD responded to the incidents at her home. This included having armed SWAT officers surround her house and ordering her to come outside over a loudspeaker.
She sued the LAPD for their actions during one of these incidents in August 2020, saying that she and her three children feared for their lives. However, the jury found that the LAPD and the city were not responsible, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office.
BLM-LA expressed disappointment over the verdict, saying that the judge and the jury, which did not include any Black members, sided with the police. They vowed to continue their fight against police violence.
Abdullah’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. During the trial, a police sergeant said that even though he was mostly sure the emergency call was fake, he ordered officers to approach Abdullah’s home in tactical gear because he didn’t want to take the risk of it being true.
Abdullah’s legal team argued that the police targeted her because of her activism.