DHS claimed "an ICE agent had fired 'defensive shots' into Martinez's vehicle after Martinez 'intentionally ran over' another agent."
But body cam video now "shows that Martinez's vehicle, a blue Ford Fusion, was stationary or going at a very low rate of speed when he was fatally shot."
Speaking of stops like the one Mitchell experienced, an ad hoc council cmte spent several hours today discussing pretext stop data & the harm these stops continue to inflict on Black & brown Angelenos. I'll have more on that next week. In the meanwhile:
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Which isn't to say that better pedestrian spaces is bad! I'm only saying that the creation of truly accessible spaces for the residents of historically disenfranchised communities - and especially at Crenshaw and Slauson - requires a lot more than concrete.
If you're truly sincere about that then the thing to consider is that cars did not limit Nipsey's access to the public space. They actually enhanced it & provided a measure of safety. The real barriers were disinvestment, disenfranchisement & repressive policing. la.streetsblog.org/2019/08/15/n...
How is a position we vote for weaponized against us at every turn? The city attorney should be abolished.
Takes one to know one. Thank you so much 🙏
SCOOP: City Attorney Takes Her Own Swing at Man Sucker Punched by LAPD in 2024 - la.streetsblog.org/2026/03/06/c...
forgive my boldness, but it seems to me that there's an article right there for you to read about what the designation means and why it is so significant to the community.
Scenes from the dedication at Crenshaw and Slauson: Nate Gibbs, Rachel Doyle, artist Mohammad Mubarak and the painting of Nipsey Hussle that served as the backdrop of the ceremony, and Marshall (in the jacket he made himself) and Brother Quenton.
Dedication: Crenshaw and Slauson to Forever be Known as “Nipsey Hussle Square” - my photos and story from the day: la.streetsblog.org/2026/03/05/d...
It is very hard not to have a safe choice to use the bathroom in public.
It may be impossible to continue living, working, eating, etc without a valid driver's license if your life was built around driving and the assumption that your license wouldn't be invalidated overnight by the legislature.
Shamond "Lil AD" Bennett was hit w/ a felony strike & a felony battery charge for having the audacity to ask LAPD officer Evan Mott (seen shoving him below) to de-escalate after LAPD got aggressive w/ mourners at a peaceful vigil last July. See story or the 🧵 ⤵️ la.streetsblog.org/2025/12/18/t...
Last July, LAPD descended on a peaceful vigil, assaulted mourners, and arrested Shamond “Lil AD” Bennett and Dontreal Washington Both men are back in court today fighting bogus charges w/ serious consequences. 🧵 la.streetsblog.org/2025/12/18/t...
But in this case, where police were openly aggressive with people in mourning & assaulted a gang-member-turned-respected-peacemaker trying to keep those people safe, Hochman's office has *piled on* the charges. Yesterday, the DA added a second felony battery charge.
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Recently, @jqwritesstuff.bsky.social reported on how DA Nathan Hochman's office has dismissed or reduced charges against officers (initially brought by predecessor George Gascón), protecting them against prosecution for excessive force ...
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stay safe and warm, Kenny!
Update: not only is the DA going forward w/ arraignment of the men LAPD assaulted, they *added* felony battery against emergency personnel to Bennett's charges. This is how the system works against ppl who use their lived experience to better their communities. Just shameful.
indelible breakdown of how LAPD disrupted a peaceful vigil & then lied about it
Three days after the assault on mourners, LAPD shot and killed James Tullous at that same location. Then they made an even greater & more aggressive show of force than they had just three days earlier. Read about how their response to the vigil shaped that outcome. la.streetsblog.org/2025/12/18/t...
Karen Bass @mayor.lacity.gov recently celebrated the 27% drop in homicides in GRYD zones by citing the essential work of peacekeepers in preventing violence. But when asked in Oct. about LAPD’s assault, arrest, & scapegoating of Bennett -a well-known peacekeeper- the mayor’s office didn't respond.
If the DA really had a case, they’d have provided the relevant body cam footage in a timely manner. But they didn’t. The preliminary hearing phase has now dragged on for more than 6 months – wasting the men’s time and making it much more difficult for them to take civil action against LAPD.
Bennett, whose experience coming up in the Rollin 60s is precisely what gives him the authority to engage in and actually be successful at peacework, is being punished for that. In addition to the resisting charge, DA Nathan Hochman hit him with a felony strike/gang enhancement.
Now Washington & Bennett are paying the price for LAPD’s unwillingness to acknowledge they were wrong. Washington was charged with resisting & battery on a police officer (he accidentally knocked an officer w/ an elbow as they dragged him away & threw him up against a car). [With his mom Rayshana]
In the aftermath, prominent interventionist Skipp Townsend attempted to engage LAPD on how unnecessary and how harmful their unprovoked aggression was. LAPD agreed things could have been done differently but would not acknowledge that they were wrong.
Then 3 dozen+ LAPD vehicles and officers in riot gear moved in to occupy Crenshaw Blvd, mirroring Border Patrol’s occupation of MacArthur Park earlier that day. The latter sparked a national conversation about fascist overreach. The former was treated as necessary to subdue the Hyde Park community.
Even after being shoved, Bennett’s first instinct was to throw himself in front of other mourners and move them out of reach of LAPD. He was beaten and arrested anyways
Mourners described LAPD literally running up on them, being aggressive, shouting profanities at them, giving conflicting commands, and creating chaos. When Bennett spotted Mott hassling people trying to leave, Bennett approached and tried to get him to back off. Mott apparently took that personally.
But then Officer Mott arrived. Mott was a familiar face – Bennett says he would make a point of circling the Crenshaw & Slauson Metro stop to intimidate the intervention workers stationed there... like he was waiting for an excuse to trip them up.
When LAPD first arrived on scene (bc the vigil had spilled into traffic), Bennett had actually approached officers who knew him and his dedication to peace work. He told them he would move the crowd to another location. They told him to do his thing, he says.
LAPD later told press they'd come under attack while stopping a street takeover. There had been no street takeover and no attack on police. And while tires were slashed, it later emerged that it was done by a young man expressing his deep frustration at LAPD's assault on Bennett and the mourners.
