Black Lives Matter co-founder Melina Abdullah lost a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department on Thursday. Abdullah, the running mate to independent presidential candidate Cornel West, claimed that the police engaged in racial and political harassment by responding to a swatting call at her home. She and West denounced the jury verdict as a miscarriage of justice.
Many of us have been targets of swatting, which is a dangerous prank used by extremists and unhinged individuals to attack those with opposing views. In my one incident, I found the Fairfax Police Department entirely professional and supportive. I understood that they had a duty to investigate the call, even though they believed that it was a swatting incident.
In Addullah’s case, the swatter claimed to have taken hostages in the home. She viewed the response as not just unnecessary but abusive. As an anti-police figure, she said that police were just trying to intimidate her.
Abdullah livestreamed her encounter with the police during which she asks “Do you know who I am?”
Abdullah declared later that “LAPD swatted my home three times.” In a press conference hosted by Brother Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz at the National Press Club, she added “they don’t [get to] get away with that. This lawsuit is in the name of so many that police terrorize and silence.”
Abdullah called the verdict “dispiriting and disappointing and not surprising” in “an unjust system.” She is planning to appeal.
West joined in the condemnation:
“I stand in deep solidarity with my dear sister, comrade and running mate, Dr. Melina Abdullah! I believe this verdict is a major miscarriage of justice! We shall continue to fight for Truth Justice and Love!”
