(See Council President's June 7, 2024 press conference in its entirety.)
The Incident On June 6
On June 6, two Burbank Police officers deposited a visibly incapacitated man on the sidewalk in front of the building housing the Council President's North Hollywood district office. After removing the man’s handcuffs, the officers drove off while the visibly incapacitated man collapsed on the pavement. The incident was captured by the building security camera and the video recording was shared with Second District staff.
After viewing the video, district staff searched the surrounding area and located the abandoned man, whose name is being withheld. Staff connected him with emergency services and he has received medical attention.
The Council President has introduced a motion in Council, calling on the City Attorney, the District Attorney, and the Attorney General of California to investigate both this incident, and the continuing practice of one jurisdiction abandoning its homeless and indigent residents on the streets of another.
One Example of a Larger Problem
The Los Angeles Police Department has an established procedure for dealing with incapacitated people who come into its custody. A handoff to other competent service personnel is the rule. In the current case, officers from the City of Burbank transported the man in question miles from where they found him, across their city limits, from their city to ours, to leave him in Los Angeles without any attempt to connect with other services.
“We in Los Angeles have worked long and hard to bring our unhoused neighbors off the streets by building interim shelters, tiny homes, navigation centers, and supportive housing. Meanwhile, neighboring jurisdictions have simply removed unhoused people from their streets and dumped them on ours,” said Krekorian.