Hours after drawing the ire of protesters with his first in-person appearance in two months at a Los Angeles City Council meeting, Kevin de León was embroiled in a scuffle with an activist Friday night who, at least, it was partially captured on video.
The councilor said in a statement that he was assaulted. Activists said De León was the aggressor.
De León was in Lincoln Park for a toy giveaway and holiday tree lighting when the incident occurred, his office told The Times.
A video posted on Twitter by two local activist organizations—RootsAction and J-TOWN Action and Solidarity—shows a brief portion of an altercation between De León and a man identified in the description as Jason Reedy, an organizer for the City Hall of town
The video, which is in slow motion, shows the counselor with other people behind him in a corridor. De León shoves Reedy onto a table before grabbing him again and forcing him down what appears to be a hallway or door.
The 10-second video clip does not depict any other part of Friday night’s incident.
In a statement, De León said he, a staff member and a volunteer were “physically and violently assaulted by self-proclaimed activists at a community holiday event to the dismay of a crowd of families and children who were there to celebrate a Christmas tree Christmas lighting and receiving toys and food”.
“The escalation of rhetoric is reaching a fever pitch, escalating from verbal threats to actual acts of violence, and must end before more serious harm or loss of life occurs,” the statement said. “Violence is not freedom of expression and has no place in politics or democracy.”
In a statement to The Times on Friday night, Shakeer Rahman, an attorney representing Reedy, called De León “a disgrace.”
“The video footage clearly shows him and his supporters initiating this assault while Mr Reedy is lying prone,” Rahman said. “Not only has Kevin de León lost all political legitimacy, but his claims that he was the one attacked here simply underscores how out of touch he is with reality.”
De León’s office said Reedy and other activists present were to blame.
Pete Brown, a spokesman for De León, said the council member was headbutted by Reedy, a member of his staff was elbowed in the face and a volunteer was punched in the arm.
Jason Reedy speaks during Friday’s City Council meeting.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
No headbutt was captured on the video, which Brown said starts after it happened.
Asked to respond to the headbutting claim, Rahman called it “false”.
“Mr. Reedy was critical of Kevin de León’s political record and echoed widespread demands that he resign,” the attorney said. “De León’s supporters then initiated physical contact by pushing him, and De León grabbed the Mr. Reedy. Mr. Reedy had his hands up and did not make contact with anyone until De León grabbed him.”
Before the start of the video, De León was on a stage at the venue when the protesters entered, the spokesman said. He tried to walk away but was chased by activists, who blocked the exits, according to Brown.
A social worker representing a nonprofit on Friday night said the event was winding down when activists entered the site.
He did not want to give his full name for fear of reprisal and identified himself only as Giovanni.
Giovanni told The Times that he saw Reedy try to headbutt De Leon, but the attempt was unsuccessful.
Finally, the social worker said, she took the counselor to another room and away from the protesters.
In a statement later Friday, City Council President Paul Krekorian called the incident an assault against De León, his staff and a volunteer, and an “intolerable” crime.
Krekorian said the incident would be “vigorously investigated” by the Los Angeles Police Department.
“No matter what disputes we have with elected officials or our fellow citizens, violence like this is completely unacceptable,” he said. “In a free society political disagreements are inevitable and passionate discussion is necessary, but violence discredits the cause that employs it.”
Authorities have confirmed little about the incident and have not identified anyone involved.
Officers were called at 6:30 p.m. to the 3500 block of Valley Boulevard for a report of a large fight involving eight possible suspects, said Officer Drake Madison, an LAPD spokesman.
The suspects had fled when officers arrived, Madison said. Officers took a victim’s report.
Firefighters were called to the scene to evaluate an adult man, but the man was not taken to a hospital, said Nicholas Prange, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Friday night’s altercation followed a tense City Council meeting that saw De León make his first appearance in two months.
It was his first time in council chambers since mid-October, when the fallout from a leaked racist audio tape rocked the city.
The question of when – or if – De León would return had been raised in the City Council. His name was invoked frequently, though his seat remained visibly empty, and thrice-weekly meetings were regularly interrupted by protesters to demand his resignation.
De León, who apologized after the tape, has been adamant that he has no plans to resign. He began quietly re-entering the public sphere about a month ago, attending food giveaways, holiday meals and other community events, but avoided the council chamber until Friday morning.
Police told The Times earlier in the day that Reedy and another man were ejected from Friday’s City Council meeting over concerns the men were about to get into a physical altercation.
Times writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.