Los Angeles City Council Clashes with Activists at Christmas Party – Update

TO UPDATE: The Los Angeles Police Department’s Detective Support and Subdivision, Threat Management Unit, says it is investigating an altercation involving a Los Angeles City Council member at a community event.

Police said they responded to a radio call of a large fight around 6:30 p.m. Friday at the 3500 block of Valley Boulevard. Police said Councilman Kevin De Leon “was approached by several members of the community who blocked his travel plan as he attempted to exit the building. During that encounter, a man identified as Jason Reedy allegedly head-butted, stabbed and punched Councilman De Leon.

The fight escalated, police said, as De Leon and Reedy continued the argument outside the building. Reedy left before officers arrived. Officials prepared a battery report for Councilman De Leon shortly after the incident. “Several hours later, Reedy also filed a battery report at a local police station, alleging that Councilman De Leon grabbed and threw Reedy,” police said.

Detective Support and the Subdivision Threat Management Unit will continue to investigate this incident.

EARLIER: The celebrations turned into an ole heve-ho-ho-ho on Friday night when a member of the Los Angeles City Council was involved in a fight with an activist at a Christmas tree lighting event.

Councilman Kevin de León attended a toy and Christmas tree lighting in Lincoln Park, the Los Angeles Times reports. Predictably, there were conflicting reports about who started the confrontation.

In a statement to the media, León said he was attacked. Activists pointed fingers at De Leon as the attacker.

De Leon attended his first council meeting since a tape was released Friday, followed by a highly charged discussion of racial issues. De Leon was one of many on the group and has since resisted calls for his resignation.

Two local activist organizations, RootsAction and J-TOWN Action and Solidarity posted a video on Twitter depicts the incident between De León and a man identified as Jason Reedy, an organizer with the People’s City Council.

Pete Brown, spokesman for De Leons, told the Times that the Reedy City Council was hit hard. Several other employees were attacked, he claimed.

De León issued a statement claiming he was “violently and physically assaulted by self-proclaimed activists during a holiday event in the community, to the dismay of a large number of families and children who were there to witness the lighting of a Christmas tree four.” and to sell toys and receive food.

“The escalating rhetoric is at its peak, evolving from verbal threats to actual acts of violence, and must end before more serious injury or death occurs,” the statement said. “Violence is not freedom of speech and has no place in politics or democracy.”

Shakeer Rahman, an attorney representing Reedy, called De León “an embarrassment” in a statement to the Times Friday night.

“Video footage clearly shows how he and his supporters launch this attack with Mr. Ready on the ground,” Rahman said. “Kevin de León has not only lost all political legitimacy, his claim that he was attacked here only underlines how he has lost touch with reality.”

No details were immediately available on whether charges had been filed by either party.