It was deliberate as a peaceable day of mourning for a Watts neighborhood matriarch many knew merely as “Mama Curtis.”
As a substitute, attendees stated, a memorial in Watts over the weekend for 94-year-old Earlene Curtis descended into chaos when Los Angeles law enforcement officials swarmed the block the place the gathering passed off. Cellphone video confirmed the officers wielding batons and shoving folks down earlier than hauling somebody away on what the LAPD later stated was a felony arrest warrant.
The LAPD response has drawn outrage from Curtis’ household, Watts residents and the native metropolis council member’s workplace, who stated the overwhelming present of drive was unwarranted on an evening when mourners had gathered to recollect and grieve.
-
Share through
An LAPD spokesman stated two separate inside critiques of the incident are underway.
For a lot of the day Saturday, folks had been stopping by at Curtis’ house to pay their respects, in line with her granddaughter, Erica Dantzler.
Dantzler stated her grandmother — who died the evening earlier than at a hospital — was a fixture within the space for many years, identified for doting on the neighborhood’s kids as if they have been her personal. She was additionally an advocate for peace in her group, serving for years on the Watts gang job drive, a volunteer group of residents, law enforcement officials and religion leaders who meet frequently to debate options to the neighborhood’s issues.
An solely baby herself, Curtis had had six kids and at the least 90 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, in line with Dantzler. Anticipating a variety of mourners and members of the family, Dantzler stated she shared particulars concerning the memorial with Councilmember Tim McOsker’s workplace, which alerted the LAPD to what was occurring.
So it got here as a shock, she stated, when police confirmed up on the occasion.
She stated she tried to strategy a few of the officers for a proof, however was ignored. As a substitute, she stated, they gathered on the sidewalk exterior the Curtis house and started pushing folks again.
They “remoted us off [and] put up yellow tape prefer it was a criminal offense scene,” she stated, including: “They stored like antagonizing on us.”
As time went on, the group obtained increasingly stressed, she stated, and a few folks started confronting officers. Movies of the standoff circulating on-line confirmed officers, some in riot helmets or holding Tasers, dealing with off with memorial-goers, some yelling angrily within the officers’ faces. In a single recording, a tow truck is seen leaving the scene with somebody’s automotive.
“We have been met with improper searches, detainment with out trigger, and an entire lack of communication or fundamental dignity. Our ache was ignored. Our security was threatened,” in line with one individual’s Fb submit concerning the incident.
In an announcement to The Instances, police spokesman Capt. Michael Bland stated officers from close by Southeast Space station responded to the 10400 block of Juniper Avenue — a slim one-way avenue close to the Jordan Downs housing improvement. Bland stated a number of vehicles that have been double-parked exterior the house, which have been “obstructing protected passage for emergency responders, in addition to residents.”
Of their “efforts to deal with the state of affairs” on the scene about 9 p.m. on Saturday, officers arrested somebody on suspicion of illegally possessing a firearm, he stated.
Bland stated the division had opened an inside investigation after receiving a grievance from a group member, and individually has initiated a evaluation of the officers’ use of drive. “Each personnel issues might be investigated completely and reviewed comprehensively, in adherence to our dedication to take care of accountability and transparency,” Bland stated.
In an try to make sure that “group voices are heard,” Bland stated, division officers reached out to “group members and key stakeholders to deal with issues associated to this incident, in addition to foster dialogue.”
McOsker, the councilmember who represents the realm, stated he was troubled that the LAPD responded with such drive within the space close to the Jordan Downs improvement.
Among the many metropolis’s oldest housing initiatives and lengthy one in all its most troubled, the realm was one of many founding websites of the LAPD’s heralded Group Security Partnership, or CSP, program, which prioritizes collaboration between law enforcement officials and group members over making arrests in neighborhoods hit by violence.
“The truth that Southeast patrol officers didn’t lead with a CSP-type of high quality is actually disappointing,” McOsker stated.
He attended a gathering Tuesday afternoon at Morning Star Baptist Church, the place Curtis was a member, with LAPD officers, Curtis’ household and different group members.
“It’s a miss on LAPD’s half,” he stated. “When you have got a 94-year-old lady who’s a mom to the group and who’s beloved by a variety of of us, folks will present up.”
The one clarification he’s obtained from the LAPD up to now about what occurred was that there had been an “inside breakdown in communication,” he stated.
He stated he additionally needs the division to create clearer protocols for grieving households to report the planning of a memorial occasion or funeral to keep away from an identical state of affairs.
On the identical time, he stated, he was heartened by the willingness of LAPD Cmdr. Ryan Whiteman, to publicly apologize to Curtis’ household Monday for the police response with out getting defensive.
“Whereas it’s a horrible disappointment that it occurred, that was the a part of the assembly that I used to be glad… and regarded the group within the eye and stated, we’re sorry,” McOsker stated.
Tanya Dorsey, who runs a nonprofit outreach group subsequent to the close by Nickerson Gardens initiatives, stated she didn’t know Curtis, however understood her household’s frustration after watching a video of the LAPD’s response on Instagram.
It’s no secret that police routinely monitor funerals and repass gatherings the place they think gang members could possibly be current, partly in an effort to keep at bay violence.
Based on Dorsey, in Nickerson Gardens, officers are identified to indicate as much as harass and arrest folks for probation violations, ingesting in public and different low-level offenses — encounters she stated can escalate as feelings are operating excessive.
“They know that [when] folks go away within the ‘hood, they already know that there’s going to be a candlelight vigil they usually know there’s gonna be a repass,” she stated.
Jorja Leap, a UCLA professor who has studied Watts extensively, stated that the most recent encounter underscores the tenuousness of the positive aspects made in recent times by the LAPD.
“Watts needs to belief, however it may well’t neglect previous historical past,” she stated. “These relationships can’t be taken with no consideration for that, and Mama Curtis is a reminder of that.”
