Black Lives Matter Activist Sues City Of Los Angeles, LAPD For $4,000,000

Screengrab via YouTube

A Black Lives Matter activist has filed a $4 million federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department, claiming that he was wrongfully arrested during a Los Angeles Police Commission meeting that occurred last year.

The arrest took place on February 9, 2016, when Greg Akili and other Black Lives Matter activists reportedly refused to sit down and stop shouting denunciations of commission President Matt Johnson. Johnson then gave Akili his "last warning" to sit down, to which the activist remained standing and told Johnson he had no right to silence Akili and the other activists.

Ultimately, an officer escorted Akili out of the meeting where he was then arrested for allegedly grabbing a female officer. The city attorney charged him with misdemeanor battery.

However, Akili said that his arrest had nothing to do with battery but for disrupting the meeting.

"I wasn't arrested for anything but upsetting and disrupting the meeting. And there is no law against that," Akili said in an interview with KPCC.

Following the arrest, Akili was given a plea deal which he did not accept, resulting in the city taking the case to trial and a jury convicting him of resisting arrest but undecided on the battery charge against him.