BURBANK, California. (KABC)– Los Angeles City Council Speaker Paul Krekorian says he is outraged after a video released by his office shows two Burbank police officers “dropping” a homeless man in the city of Los Angeles.
It happened Thursday morning at Krekorian’s North Hollywood district office on Lankershim Boulevard. In the video, you see a squad car from the Burbank Police Department pull up to the office.
Inside the vehicle, Krekorian said, was a homeless man. The footage then shows the two police officers getting out of the car to remove the barefoot man.
They remove the handcuffs and then leave him in visible pain on the sidewalk of another city.
“Some of our cities and surrounding jurisdictions that are not spending their resources to provide services, that are not building shelters for their unhoused residents, that are not investing in permanent supportive housing, that are not doing the humane things of basis needed to address homelessness, they are instead pushing their unhoused population toward the city of Los Angeles,” Krekorian said.
Krekorian pointed out that this has happened before, but in his district it happened in facilities where homeless people could receive services. This was not the case on Thursday.
According to Krekorian, the man was seeking medical treatment for a broken leg at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. When he became unruly, the hospital called the police, who committed an act that had long been thought to happen in nearby towns but had rarely been caught on camera.
“The Burbank Police Department handcuffed this man and took him to Los Angeles where someone else will take care of him, and that is obviously senseless, cruel, inhumane and also fundamentally irresponsible,” Krekorian said .
The council president said he was outraged because the city of Los Angeles spends $1 billion a year to combat homelessness, a regional and national problem (not just a municipal problem) that continues to get worse.
Krekorian made a motion calling on the district attorney, city attorney and attorney general to investigate the matter and said officials in other areas need to step up their efforts.
Burbank Police Department Speaks Out
Burbank Mayor Nick Schultz released a statement Friday afternoon, saying “the City of Burbank takes the concerns raised by Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian very seriously.”
The Burbank Police Department released its own statement shortly afterward, saying officers initially received a call around 8:45 a.m. Thursday about a naked man sitting at a bus stop near Buena Vista Street and Alameda Avenue, just outside Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center.
Officers found the man “lucid and communicative” and offered him clothes, the department said.
“The individual refused to accept the clothing because he had his own, and after a brief conversation, the individual got dressed,” Burbank police said in a news release.
The man told officers he was homeless and had been taken to the hospital from the Sunland-Tujunga area. He also told officers he was suffering from a leg injury suffered many years ago, according to police.
The man reportedly left the hospital on his own before police arrived and medical services were refused. Police also said the man asked to be dropped off in the North Hollywood area.
“As the individual did not appear to have any means of transportation and in order to obtain his cooperation so that he could get dressed, the police offered to take him to the location of his choice,” we can read in the police press release. “Initially, the individual asked to be taken to Sunland/Tujunga and eventually agreed to be transported on the Metro Red Line to North Hollywood. He voluntarily got into the patrol vehicle and was driven to the station of the metro red line, the individual “The individual asked to get out of the patrol vehicle to get a coffee. Officers immediately complied with his request, stopped and let the individual exit the patrol vehicle in the 5200 block of Lankershim Boulevard.”
The statement goes on to say, “The Burbank Police Department remains committed to treating the unhoused community with compassion and respect, and thanks Los Angeles City Council Speaker Paul Krekorian for bringing this matter to our attention. »
Police did not say why the man was handcuffed.
Schultz’s full statement said: “We do not take this concern lightly, as the City of Burbank’s first priority is to provide our unhoused residents with the support and resources needed to transition from the streets to living conditions. stable and secure lives,” said Burbank Mayor Nick. Schultz. “We greatly value our relationship with the City of Los Angeles and are committed to improving communication and collaboration to effectively address this and all issues related to homelessness.” We recognize that these are complex issues with no easy solutions, but we remain steadfast in our efforts. Commitment to finding effective approaches.
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