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Video footage shows Los Angeles Councilman Kevin de León, second from right, wrestling with activist Jason Reedy after a community event in Lincoln Heights. | Photo courtesy of RootsAction and J-Town Action & Solidarity/Twitter
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Los Angeles police have launched an investigation into an altercation between LA City Councilman Kevin de León and a community activist who have accused each other of assault during the embattled councilman’s appearance at a Christmas tree lighting in Lincoln Heights.
De León — who has refused intense pressure to resign from colleagues and activists ever since a leaked audio was released of an October 2021 conversation about redistricting that featured racial slurs and blunt talk of political power grabs — was on stage at Lincoln Park at about 6:30 p.m. Friday when a group of five to six people approached him. The group rushed de León as he tried to leave the stage with a woman and her infant, according to de León’s communications director Pete Brown.
“A group of so-called ‘activists’ — who have been harassing my staff and me for more than a year — cornered and physically assaulted me, a staff member, and a volunteer during a holiday event on Friday evening,” de León said in a statement Saturday morning.
“Jason Reedy and his accomplices started by shouting obscenities and disrupting a community toy giveaway and tree lighting ceremony already underway. I decided to try to exit the event to draw the disrupters away from the attending families and children and leave without further incident. Still, we discovered Reedy and others had blocked all available exits.
“Once we were able to push open a door and try to get out, Reedy launched a pelvic thrust, followed by a headbutt to my forehead. My response, in defense of myself, was to push him off of me. In the ensuing struggle, Reedy struck me in the face with a closed fist, violently elbowed a female staff member, and injured a volunteer in front of horrified parents and children.
“The escalating political rhetoric is beyond unacceptable, now turning verbal threats into physical acts of violence,” de León’s statement continued. “It’s a dangerous pattern that must end before more serious harm or loss of life occurs. Leaders must collectively step up to curb rising hostilities towards staff and elected officials. In no way is violence a form of free speech and acts like these have no place in politics or democracy.”
However, J-Town Action & Solidarity, which bills itself as “a grassroots collective building community power in Little Tokyo,” and the progressive group RootsAction accused de León of assaulting local organizer Jason Reedy.
The organizations shared a 10-second video on Twitter showing de León holding onto Reedy, then pulling him down to a table. De León then pulls Reedy away from the table and toward a wall when the video ends.
Late Friday, J-Town organizer Steven Chun released a statement explaining the group’s side of the encounter.
“We came to this event alongside our comrade Jason to hold KDL accountable for his racism and fascist policies,” Chun’s statement said. “As we approached him and demanded that he resign, we were all assaulted by his supporters and were even called racial insults and slurs such as ‘Oriental.’
“Once we were pushed out of the gymnasium doors into the hallway, all I saw was KDL’s anti-Blackness manifest into physical violence yet again as he assaulted Jason. … They then physically threw us outside and we all left promptly afterwards. Kevin needs to resign immediately and never show his unhinged racist face in public again.”
De León said the video does not fully show what happened.
On Saturday morning, RootsAction tweeted a longer video that showed the moments leading up to the fight. In it, Reedy is seen getting into de León’s face while backpedaling, holding a cell phone and demanding that he resign. De León exits the room and tries to close a door behind him but Reedy forces his way through and backs de León against a wall while holding both his arms high in the air. Reedy puts his head against de León’s and appears to lightly bump heads with him twice before the councilman responds and charges forward, man-handling Reedy and forcing him onto a table.
The Los Angeles Police Department said officers responded to “a large fight” at 6:30 p.m. Friday involving four males and four females in the 3500 block of Valley Boulevard.
“Upon arrival, officers requested an ambulance for a 40-year-old male conscious and breathing, body pain due to assault. All suspects were gone (prior) to arrival. A police report was completed for the victim,” police said.
A spokesperson for the LAPD’s Media Relations Section declined to disclose the name of the alleged victim.
Shakeer Rahman, an attorney representing Reedy, denied that his client head-butted the councilman in a statement to the Los Angeles Times and called De León “a disgrace.”
“Video footage clearly shows him and his supporters initiating this assault while Mr. Reedy stands prone,” Rahman told the newspaper. “Not only has Kevin de León lost all political legitimacy, his claims that he was the one attacked here simply underscores how he’s lost touch with reality.”
City Council President Paul Krekorian released a statement Friday calling for both sides to settle their disputes in a non-violent manner.
“This evening, Councilmember Kevin De León, a member of his staff and a volunteer were physically attacked by people who disrupted a community holiday event to call for his resignation,” the statement said. “This kind of crime is intolerable in a free society, and the incident will be vigorously investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department. No matter what disputes we may have with elected officials or our fellow citizens, violence like this is completely unacceptable. In a free society political disagreements are unavoidable, and passionate discussion is necessary, but violence discredits the cause that employs it.
“This city has endured horrendous division and toxicity in recent months. We need to reject hatred in all of its forms, and we need to reject the atmosphere of intimidation, bullying and threats that have become all too commonplace in this city and across the country. Whatever position each of us takes on the controversies of the day, we need to reject violent words and especially violent acts, and we need to start treating each other with the same respect we want others to show us even when we disagree.”
Kenneth Mejia, who defeated City Councilman Paul Koretz in November’s election for city controller, also assailed de León for his role in the scuffle.
“KDL continues to disgrace our city with every second that he remains in office,” Mejia tweeted Friday night. “First he gets caught making racist remarks, now he’s assaulting a Black protestor. Tonight underscores what the community has already known: KDL and his policies endanger Black lives. RESIGN KDL!”
Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson shared his thoughts about the incident on Twitter: “Some people are ready to excuse CM de Leon’s behavior. I am not.”
The Lincoln Park appearance came hours after de León attended a City Council meeting for the first time since Oct. 11. His appearance was brief as protesters immediately shouted for him to leave, and he was no longer present following a recess of about 45 minutes.
Brown, de León’s spokesman, said Reedy was ejected from Friday’s council meeting because he was getting into a fight with someone else.
“When they came in (at the tree-lighting event), the councilman recognized them and tried to get them away from audience members and families,” Brown told City News Service. “They corned him, he had nowhere to go, and you saw what happened.”
Brown also dismissed the activists’ charges of racism and fascism.
“Council member de León has a long track record of anti-racist and progressive policies that lift people up, and I challenge anyone to pull out any policy he has that’s racist,” Brown said.
“They’re trying to mischaracterize (de León’s) record, and they use threats and intimidation as a tool, portray themselves as victims. … They are aggressors, and their hostile actions last night — where they came into a community meeting screaming, cursing and scaring families and children, reflect their tactics.
“They were not assaulted by anyone last night,” Brown said.
De León has defied widespread calls to resign over his participation in the 2021 conversation with former Council President Nury Martinez, Councilman Gil Cedillo and Ron Herrera, former president of the LA County Federation of Labor, which was leaked in October of this year. He is also facing a recall effort that is in the process of gathering signatures.
Protesters have regularly shown up at meetings demanding that de León and Cedillo resign before the city conducts its business.
Martinez and Herrera resigned in October. Cedillo lost his bid for reelection and will be replaced by Eunisses Hernandez, who will be sworn in next week.
Brown told CNS that de León intends to be at Tuesday’s council meeting, when the council will seat new members elected in November and vote on a new council president, despite the demonstrators’ ongoing attempts to disrupt meetings.
“It’s up to the leadership on the council to control the activities in council. That’s outside of Mr. de Leon’s control,” Brown said. “No council member should be intimidated or threatened not to show up and be able to do their job.”
Updated Dec. 10, 2022, 12:30 p.m.
