Jaylen Brown, the Beverly Hills police and the video fueling allegations of racism

Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown was in the middle of a product event at a Beverly Hills mansion on Valentine’s Day when the police showed up.

It was 7 p.m., and the music for the event — an invitation-only gathering for his 741 Performance brand — had gone quiet. Brown went downstairs to speak with the officer, expressing confusion as to why the police had been called.

“We’re just trying to have an event — a forum that talks about culture, we talk about the future, we talk about leadership, and for whatever reason I think it’s aimed at them,” Brown said in a video of the incident posted on social media.

He asked the police officer why the city was locking it up. “It’s beyond my pay grade,” replied the officer. “They want it closed.”

The video quickly went viral, with many questioning why the city shut down what appeared to be a peaceful event. This debate was created by a series of incidents in previous years where the Police Department of this area was accused of recording the history of black people.

Beverly Hills officials issued a statement defending their actions. But it didn’t take long for the city to backtrack, issuing an apology to NBA star and host of the event, Oakley founder James Jannard, for initially putting out the wrong information.

Brown told ESPN that he is considering legal action against the city, saying the episode tarnished his name and that of his brand.

He said: “That makes me angry. “It’s hard to say it wasn’t intended.”

Beverly Hills officials insist the city did not unfairly select Brown and insist the incident was a law enforcement matter, not a police matter.

The police presence at the Trousdale Place event was prompted by a resident who reported “cars overtaking on the road,” said Beverly Hills Deputy City Manager Keith Sterling in an email to The Times. A traffic officer then found “traffic congestion, multiple parking violations (including a car blocking the road and multiple cars parked in the wrong place) and a large crowd of people gathered in the driveway.”

“Code enforcement was on site for several hours and observed what they believe to be more than 50 people gathered for an event, which would require a public meeting permit for the safety of attendees,” he added.

There was also a noise generator, which would require a permit, a check-in table, a metal detector and a temporary wall with a sign, Sterling said.

Brown’s performance took place during the NBA’s All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles. Sterling noted that there are six other NBA-related events in town during that time.

“The City knew that this event was scheduled to coincide with the NBA All-Star Weekend but did not have information on who was sponsoring or participating in the event,” wrote Sterling. “The event was closed for safety reasons only without regard to sponsors or participants.”

Nevertheless, the incident has renewed questions for the police in Beverly Hills – a predominantly white city where black residents make up about 2% of the population.

Some lawyers visited Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta will investigate allegations of racism in Beverly Hills. Bonta’s office declined to comment.

In 2020, the Beverly Hills Police Department launched a special unit – the Rodeo Drive Team – amid complaints about what residents and shop owners say is “crime” along the famous shopping corridor. The police have been assigned to combat what officials say is an increase in crime, people using money obtained by defrauding the government’s unemployment program and quality of life such as loud music and the smell of marijuana in stores, according to a 2021 Times investigation. Another document that The Times analyzed that year revealed that nearly 90% of those arrested by the team were black.

This team was disbanded after just two months.

Attorneys Bradley Gage and Benjamin Crump filed a murder case against the city in 2021 that is ongoing. The case says that none of those arrested resulted in a conviction and others were never prosecuted because the police had no reason to arrest them in the first place.

The department dismissed allegations that it targeted black consumers, saying in a 2021 statement that the police are “committed to keeping our community safe while upholding the law with the respect and dignity of all people.”

Before the group was disbanded, Salehe Bembury, who was the vice president of sneakers and men’s shoes at Versace, was carrying a shopping bag at Versace crossing Rodeo Drive near the luxury store when the police stopped him to ride a jaywalk, and asked him to put his hands behind his back and searched him for weapons.

Body camera footage showed Bembury repeatedly saying she was uncomfortable and thought the groping was “excessive,” adding that she designed shoes inside the bag she was carrying. He started recording with his cell phone.

“I get f— I’m supposed to go shopping at the store I work at and I’m just black,” Bembury said in the recording, holding up a Versace bag. One of the officers involved in the stop disagreed, saying Bembury was changing “the story”.

“It’s a very dangerous, scary situation for people of color, and it’s a situation that we want to fix so that everyone is treated fairly. I don’t know why this is a novel idea, but it seems like a foreign concept to a lot of people,” Gage said.

In his clients’ lawsuits against the city, two plaintiffs say they were arrested for riding a motorcycle on the side of the road. One is suspected to have been sentenced to three days after the police pulled him and his friend on their way to the beach and stopped them about three centimeters above the line set at the intersection. He has never been charged with a crime, according to the complaint.

Mike Asfall, president of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood Branch of the NAACP, said he has been working behind the scenes with city officials and the police chief on issues of race and policing. Asfall was honored in February by the Beverly Hills City Council for Black History Month.

“I know that we have had obstacles. “We must not walk on eggshells or hit something elite because of the color of our skin, but what I will not do is create a division that will give us a problem that will create drama for us.”

Staff writer Cierra Morgan contributed to this report.