A judge in Los Angeles has ordered police not to reveal what they discovered when they raided the home of an attorney representing one of the city’s leading Black Lives Matter activists.
Officers from LAPD took photos in the house of Dermot Givens on Tuesday as they hunted for a suspect they were following via an AirTag tracking device.
Givens claimed the snaps included legal documents concerning BLM leader Melina Abdullah who is suing the department after they descended on her $1.6million home in 2020 in response to a reported swatting incident.
‘It’s totally f***ing embarrassing,’ Givens, 67, said.
‘I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but this is something that was planned.’
Police say they were hunting a thief when GPS led them to the home of attorney Dermot Givens
Givens claimed the photos included legal documents concerning BLM leader Melina Abdullah
BLM leader Melina Abdullah is suing the department after they descended on her $1.6million home in 2020 in response to a reported swatting incident
Abdullah, who co-founded the city’s BLM chapter, claims officers violated her civil rights in 2020 by forcing her at gunpoint out of her home in the Crenshaw neighborhood after receiving a hoax call about a hostage situation there.
She has alleged that police used the prank call, which was carried out by teenagers, as pretext to ‘terrorize’ her for her role in organizing protests following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020.
She was swatted again a day after filing the lawsuit in September 2021 and a third time just days later.
‘While the LAPD response was far more restrained than last year’s, and not blatantly violent, it triggered traumas from the previous incident, as I believe was their intent’ the professor of Pan-African Studies wrote afterwards on Instagram.
‘I find it incredulous that such an incident would occur less than 24 hours after my attorneys, and I announced a lawsuit against the LAPD for their extremely violent response and infliction of harm against me in August 2020.
‘The timing is not coincidental.’
The campaign group has been dogged by questions over what has become of the $90 million in donations it received in the aftermath of Floyd’s death, and its purchase of a $6million compound in Los Angeles.
Givens said officers ‘ransacked’ his home in their search for firearms and ammunition, identity theft and forgery-related materials, cameras, lock-picking equipment and cellphones and other communication devices
Abdullah’s home in the Crenshaw neighborhood was repeatedly swatted as her profile soared
She said the police response was designed to intimidate her and family in ‘retaliation’ for her anti-police activities
Abdullah (seen above in Los Angeles in June 2020), is a co-founder of BLM’s LA chapter
The 6,500-square foot Southern California mansion was bought by BLM on October 27, 2020, for $5.8 million despite the fact the seller, Dyane Pascall, had purchased it for $3.1 million just six days earlier.
BLM also allegedly wished to keep the house purchase a secret despite three of its former leaders reportedly filming a series of videos dining and drinking Champagne outside the estate in Spring 2021.
Documents and internal communications reportedly reveal the luxury property’s purchase was handled in ways that ‘blur boundaries’ between charitable use and those that would benefit some of the organization’s leaders, New York magazine reported.
The discrepancy between BLM’s purchase price and that paid by Pascall also appears to remain unexplained.
Meanwhile, just 33 percent of Black Lives Matter’s accumulated donations of $90 million found its way to charitable causes, a shocking report released last summer stated.
The group doled out around $30 million between 2020 and 2022, during which time it collected $90 million in donations as it promoted itself as the preeminent civil rights organization in the US.
Among the benefactors of BLM’s paltry donations were friends and family of co-founder Patrisse Cullors, in particular her graffiti artist brother, Paul, who received $1.7 million in salary and contracts during that time period.
According to property records, Abdullah owns three homes – two in Los Angeles and one in Baltimore; their total value exceeds $2.2million.
The Crenshaw home that was ‘swatted’ is said to be worth between $1.3million and $1.6million, according to realtor web sites.
Givens said police gave him just part of a warrant before they ‘ransacked’ his home, emptying drawers, opening his safe, and rifling through his briefcase.
The warrant allowed officers to search for firearms and ammunition, any ‘identity theft and forgery-related materials,’ cameras, lock-picking equipment and cellphones and other communication devices.
‘I go, ‘Are you all swatting me?’ Givens told the LA Times.
‘And they said, ‘Who are you?’ And I said, ‘I live here!’
The attorney said police ‘know exactly who I am and where I live’ and accused them of ‘retaliation and intimidation’, for his work representing clients suing the LAPD.
LA judge Rupert Byrdsong ordered police on Friday to destroy any photos they took inside Given’s home and hand over the rest of the warrant.
Property photos show the luxurious seven-bedroom, 6,500-square foot $6million Los Angeles mansion was reportedly purchased with Black Lives Matter donations
The property’s patio and outdoor yard features an in-ground pool and cabana
The property boasts more than half-dozen bedrooms and bathrooms, a ‘butler’s pantry’ in the kitchen (pictured) as well as multiple fireplaces and a ‘mud room’
Abdullah said: ‘The first thing I thought was, like, ‘Oh, that’s crazy that they swatted the attorney who is suing them on my behalf for swatting me.’
‘Along with, ‘Is Dermot OK?’
A police spokesperson said the department was conducting an internal investigation and declined to provide further details about the search.
‘This is an open criminal investigation as well as an internal affairs investigation,’ spokesperson Captain Kelly Muniz added.