LOS ANGELES – Melina Abdullah, one of the three co-founders of Black Lives Matter, lost a lawsuit against LAPD last week, according to reports.
On Thursday, a Los Angeles jury found that police acted appropriately in a call to her residence in 2020, reported the Los Angeles Times.
Abdullah sued LAPD after officers responded to her home in what turned out to be a “swatting” incident. Swatting is the practice of reporting bogus emergencies to police that requires a tactical response to a person’s residence.
In August 2020, the 911 caller in the incident that sparked the lawsuit spoke in a pronounced Southern accent and called himself “Dale Brooks.”
As a result of the alleged hostage threat, police dispatched more than a dozen officers from the nearby Wilshire Division to Abdullah’s home, along with a police helicopter, her attorneys said. The caller said he wished to “send a message” that “BLM is a bunch of retards,” according to the LA Times.
Abdullah claimed in her lawsuit that LAPD knew the call was a hoax, but responded to her residence anyway in an attempt to intimidate her due to her anti-police advocacy, Fox News reported.
Police rebutted Abdullah’s assertions, saying the agency acted appropriately since the caller claimed he had taken three hostages inside the woman’s home. The caller also threatened to kill the imagined hostages if he did not receive a payment of $1 million.
Abdullah said she plans to appeal the decision.
