It was deliberate as a peaceable day of mourning for a Watts neighborhood matriarch many knew merely as “Mama Curtis.”
As an alternative, attendees stated, a memorial in Watts over the weekend for 94-year-old Earlene Curtis descended into chaos when Los Angeles cops swarmed the block the place the gathering occurred. Cellphone video confirmed the officers wielding batons and shoving individuals 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.
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An LAPD spokesman stated two separate inner critiques of the incident are underway.
For a lot of the day Saturday, individuals had been stopping by at Curtis’ dwelling to pay their respects, in keeping with her granddaughter, Erica Dantzler.
Dantzler stated her grandmother — who died the night time earlier than at a hospital — was a fixture within the space for many years, identified for doting on the neighborhood’s youngsters as if they had been her personal. She was additionally an advocate for peace in her neighborhood, serving for years on the Watts gang process drive, a volunteer group of residents, cops and religion leaders who meet repeatedly to debate options to the neighborhood’s issues.
An solely little one herself, Curtis had had six youngsters and a minimum of 90 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, in keeping with Dantzler. Anticipating a number 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 number of the officers for a proof, however was ignored. As an alternative, she stated, they gathered on the sidewalk outdoors the Curtis dwelling and commenced pushing individuals again.
They “remoted us off [and] put up yellow tape prefer it was against the law scene,” she stated, including: “They stored like antagonizing on us.”
As time went on, the gang obtained an increasing number of stressed, she stated, and a few individuals started confronting officers. Movies of the standoff circulating on-line confirmed officers, some in riot helmets or holding Tasers, going through 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 automobile.
“We had been met with improper searches, detainment with out trigger, and a whole lack of communication or fundamental dignity. Our ache was ignored. Our security was threatened,” in keeping with one particular person’s Fb publish concerning the incident.
In an announcement to The Occasions, police spokesman Capt. Michael Bland stated officers from close by Southeast Space station responded to the 10400 block of Juniper Avenue — a slender one-way avenue close to the Jordan Downs housing growth. Bland stated a number of vehicles that had been double-parked outdoors the house, which had been “obstructing secure 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 inner investigation after receiving a criticism from a neighborhood member, and individually has initiated a evaluation of the officers’ use of drive. “Each personnel issues will likely be investigated completely and reviewed comprehensively, in adherence to our dedication to keep up accountability and transparency,” Bland stated.
In an try to make sure that “neighborhood voices are heard,” Bland stated, division officers reached out to “neighborhood 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 growth.
Among the many metropolis’s oldest housing tasks and lengthy considered one of its most troubled, the realm was one of many founding websites of the LAPD’s heralded Neighborhood Security Partnership, or CSP, program, which prioritizes collaboration between cops and neighborhood 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 absolutely 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 neighborhood members.
“It’s a miss on LAPD’s half,” he stated. “When you’ve got a 94-year-old girl who’s a mom to the neighborhood and who’s cherished by a number of of us, individuals will present up.”
The one clarification he’s acquired from the LAPD to this point about what occurred was that there had been an “inner 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 neighborhood 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 tasks, 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 might be current, partly in an effort to beat back violence.
In keeping with Dorsey, in Nickerson Gardens, officers are identified to point out as much as harass and arrest individuals for probation violations, consuming in public and different low-level offenses — encounters she stated can escalate as feelings are operating excessive.
“They know that [when] individuals cross 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 newest encounter underscores the tenuousness of the beneficial properties made lately by the LAPD.
“Watts needs to belief, however it will possibly’t overlook previous historical past,” she stated. “These relationships can’t be taken as a right for that, and Mama Curtis is a reminder of that.”
