An attorney for Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles leader Melina Abdullah is demanding that the Los Angeles Police Department return or destroy any privileged attorney-client records that officers photographed while searching her Hollywood home this week. She also demands answers about the reason for the search, which he says was unjustified.
A police spokeswoman said the search is now the subject of an internal affairs investigation.
Dermot Givens, 67, represents Abdullah in a lawsuit accusing the Los Angeles Police Department of mishandling a “slam” incident in 2020, when heavily armed officers in tactical gear surrounded his home based on a false report of an emergency there.
Givens said his first thought when he saw similarly armed LAPD officers invading his home on Tuesday was that he himself was being “beaten.”
“I tell them, 'Are you hitting me?'” Givens said in an interview Friday with The Times. “And they said, 'Who are you?' And I said, 'I live here!'”
A patrol car in front of Givens' house.
(Dermot dice)
Givens said armed LAPD officers showed him a warrant that included his address but not his name, and then “ransacked” his home. He said the officers left without finding who and what they told him they were looking for: a much younger black man and an Apple AirTag they said was pinging in the vicinity of the home, among other items.
What the agents took, Givens said, were photographs of documents from Abdullah's case that were on his kitchen table. They initially escorted him outside, but he ran into officers photographing the documents, he said.
“I had everything clear,” he said of the documents.
On Friday, the matter was before a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, where Erin Darling, another attorney for Abdullah, requested an emergency order requiring the LAPD to return or destroy any “attorney work product” he found. had taken or captured in the photographs, as well as provide a copy of the records supporting the search warrant.
“The Los Angeles police have trampled [Givens’] product of the lawyer's work,” the document states.
Darling said a judge granted the order, but he had not received any of the materials as of Friday night. Online court records show the order was granted.
Capt. Kelly Muniz, a Los Angeles police spokeswoman, said in a statement to the Times late Friday that the department could not comment on the incident “as it is an open criminal case as well as an open internal affairs investigation.” .
Abdullah said he learned about the matter on Friday and found it concerning.
“The first thing [I thought] It was like, 'Oh, it's crazy that they hit the lawyer who's suing them on my behalf for hitting me,'” he said. “As well as: 'Is Dermot okay?'”
Givens said he was fine, but shaken, embarrassed and angry, and full of questions.
He said it made no sense for a judge to grant a warrant for police to search his home, even if they believed there was an AirTag, a trackable electronic device that can be placed in luggage or other property, inside.
“If you're doing an investigation to find someone's stolen property, wouldn't you go find out who lives in the house and talk to the person who lives in the house?” he said.
If they were looking for a younger black man, whom he said they referred to as “Tyler,” why wouldn't they accept what he told them when they arrived: that he had lived in the house for more than 20 years, most recently ? Alone and didn't know “Tyler”?
Givens said officers refused to give him a full copy of the order and only provided him with the last two pages of the four-page document. Those pages, which were included in Darling's court file, said the warrant was to search for firearms and ammunition, any “material related to identity theft and forgery,” cameras, lock-picking equipment and cell phones, and other communication devices.
Givens called the incident “absolutely crazy” and terrifying.
If you hadn't seen the officers arrive at your block in several vehicles and walk up to your balcony, would you have been assaulted? They had a battering ram, so breaking into her house if necessary seemed like part of his plan, he said. That's how black men like him get killed, he said: for making a “sneaky move.”
Givens said officers “ransacked” his home, leaving it in disarray, with items taken from closets and left on the floor. She worries what the neighbors think of her.
“It's totally fucking embarrassing,” he said.
Givens said LAPD officers “ransacked” his home.
(Dermot dice)
Givens said he has represented many clients who sued police and questions whether the search was a matter of “retaliation and intimidation.”
“I'm not a conspiracy theorist,” he said. “But this is something that was planned.”
He said he is eager to see what Darling's filing produces, including what the justification was for the court order.
“Our justice system is supposed to lead us to the truth,” he said.
Darling said he was equally interested in that information.
“What did they actually give the judge to grant an injunction on a property that is actually Mr. Givens' home?” She said honey. “In theory, it is a high standard. “They have to have probable cause that a crime has been committed or that something related to a crime is going to be in someone's home.”
Abdullah has been swatted (in which someone calls in a fake emergency to lure armed police to a location) at least three times.
The first incident occurred in August 2020, after a summer of protests against police brutality that Abdullah helped organize as a leader of Black Lives Matter. According to 911 calls reviewed by The Times, his caller claimed he was holding people hostage in Abdullah's home to “send a message” that “BLM is a bunch of retards.”
In September 2021, Abdullah filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles police, alleging that their actions during the incident, when she was taken from her home at gunpoint, constituted unlawful seizure, false imprisonment, excessive force, and assault and negligence, among others. other violations of their rights. .
The day after the lawsuit was announced, Abdullah was crushed for the second time. A few days later, he beat her a third time.
Hitting is considered very dangerous for targets; such incidents have been fatal.
Authorities have been investigating the incidents against Abdullah and said they believe the person responsible had made false calls to other U.S. police departments.
