A video released Friday by L.A. City Council President Paul Krekorian appears to show Burbank police officers releasing a shoeless homeless man on a Los Angeles sidewalk and driving away.
The roughly one-minute video, captured Thursday morning by a security camera, shows a squad car marked “Burbank Police” pull up to a curb in front of Krekorian’s district office on Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, less than two miles from Burbank city limits.
Two uniformed officers help a man out of the back seat of the squad car, and one of the officers appears to undo handcuffs from the man’s wrists.
The man, who is barefoot and dressed in dark, long-sleeved clothing, limps out of the vehicle, waves his arms around and rubs his face before falling to all fours and pressing his head against the sidewalk. Then, he lies flat on his belly.
“I am livid,” Krekorian said at a news conference on Friday, where he released the video. He accused the officers of failing to give aid to the man and told reporters, “They dumped him in North Hollywood.”
A representative for the Burbank Police department did not immediately provide comment.
Krekorian said his staff located the man in the area Thursday afternoon and that the man was receiving medical attention.
The man told Krekorian’s staff that he had recently become homeless outside of L.A. city limits. He said he was at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank and became “unruly,” so Burbank police officers showed up at the hospital and eventually brought him to North Hollywood, according to Krekorian.
When staffers found the man on Thursday afternoon, “he was not doing well,” said Krekorian. “He was not able to walk. He was still in the neighborhood. We called Los Angeles Fire Department.”
Burbank City Councilmember Konstantine Anthony said Friday that city officials are investigating the incident.
“I am confident we can find out what happened and why it happened — and make it right,” he said.
When asked if he had any concerns about the video, Anthony said, “The gentleman obviously looks to be distressed, but I can’t speak to what happened prior to this. I’m hoping we can work with Council President Krekorian’s office to find out a better way of facilitating the needs of our unhoused community going forward.”
Krekorian also on Friday submitted a motion asking for City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón and California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta to investigate the incident.
In 2018, then-L.A. City Councilman Joe Buscaino accused the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department of “dumping” a homeless man in the Los Angeles neighborhood of San Pedro after a video showed the man exiting a deputy’s patrol vehicle. Later, the L.A. city police and fire departments both responded to calls about the man.
A sheriff’s official disputed Buscaino’s account and said that deputies took the man to a bus stop in San Pedro at his request.
At Friday’s news conference, Krekorian criticized Burbank and other cities — which he did not name — for not doing enough for the unhoused, even as Los Angeles spends billions of dollars to fight homelessness.
“We are going to extraordinary lengths, and many of our neighbors are not providing services to people who are unhoused,” Krekorian said.
More to Read
More to Read
More to Read
