Krekorian accuses Burbank police of abandoning homeless man in LA

A video released Friday by Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian appears to show Burbank police officers releasing a barefoot homeless man on a Los Angeles sidewalk and driving away.

The roughly one-minute video, recorded by a surveillance camera Thursday morning, shows a patrol car marked “Burbank Police” pulled up to a curb in front of Krekorian’s district office on Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, less than two miles from the Burbank city limits.

Two uniformed officers help a man out of the back seat of the patrol car, and one of the officers appears to remove the handcuffs from the man’s wrists.

The man, barefoot and dressed in dark, long-sleeved clothing, limps out of the vehicle, flailing his arms and rubbing his face before falling to all fours, pressing his head against the pavement, and then lying flat on his stomach.

“I’m angry,” Krekorian said Friday at a press conference where he released the video. He accused officers of failing to render aid to the man and told reporters, “They dumped him in North Hollywood.”

A representative from Burbank police did not immediately comment.

Krekorian said his staff found the man in the area Thursday afternoon and he is receiving medical treatment.

The man told Krekorian’s staff that he had recently become homeless outside of LA city limits. He said he had been at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank and had become “unruly,” prompting Burbank police officers to show up at the hospital and eventually take him to North Hollywood, Krekorian said.

When staff found the man Thursday afternoon, “he was not doing well,” Krekorian said. “He couldn’t walk. He was still in the neighborhood. We called the Los Angeles Fire Department.”

Burbank City Councilman Konstantine Anthony said Friday that the city government is investigating the incident.

“I am confident that we can find out what happened and why it happened – and make it right,” he said.

When asked if he had any concerns about the video, Anthony said, “The gentleman obviously looks distressed, but I can’t tell what happened beforehand. I hope we can work with Council President Krekorian’s office to find a better way to meet the needs of our homeless community in the future.”

Krekorian also filed a motion on Friday asking City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón and California Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate the incident.

In 2018, then-Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino accused the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department of “dumping” a homeless man in the Los Angeles neighborhood of San Pedro after a video showed the man exiting a deputy’s patrol car. Later, both the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to calls about the man.

A sheriff’s official disputed Buscaino’s statement, saying officers took the man to a bus stop in San Pedro at his request.

At Friday’s press conference, Krekorian criticized Burbank and other cities – which he did not name – for not doing enough for the homeless, even though Los Angeles spends billions of dollars to combat homelessness.

“We are making extraordinary efforts, and many of our neighbors do not provide services to the homeless,” Krekorian said.