一名洛杉矶市议员拒绝辞职当局表示，在一段据称显示他在一次假日活动中与一名社区活动分子打架的视频浮出水面后，他参加一次会议的录音被泄露，会上对他的同事发表了种族主义言论，目前警方正在调查此事。
根据洛杉矶警察局周日发表的一份声明，议员凯文·德莱昂(Kevin de León)周五晚上在洛杉矶林肯高地(Lincoln Heights)附近的一次玩具赠品和圣诞树亮灯活动中，当着父母和孩子的面发生了肢体冲突，警方被叫来平息暴力事件。
美国广播公司获得的一段视频KABC洛杉矶站展示了戴着红白相间圣诞老人帽子的de León，面对一群称他为种族主义者的活动分子，显然试图在他试图离开活动现场时阻止他。在社交媒体上发布的这段视频中，其中一名名叫杰森·里迪(Jason Reedy)的活动人士与德莱昂面对面站着，随后议员将他推到一张桌子上，抓住他的夹克，将他推出了镜头。
事件发生后，de León声称他在说Reedy用头撞他后试图自卫。据LAPD报道，德莱昂对里迪提出了殴打指控，里迪也对德莱昂提出了殴打指控。
LAPD表示，事件正在调查中，没有人被拘留。
“凯文·德莱昂是个耻辱。录像片段清楚地显示，他和他的支持者发起攻击，而里迪先生站在那里，举起双手，”里迪的律师在一份声明中说。“凯文·德莱昂不仅失去了所有的政治合法性，他声称自己是在这里受到攻击的人，这只是强调了他是如何与现实脱节的。”
De León发布了一份声明，声称Reedy是“一群所谓的‘积极分子’”的一部分，这些人已经骚扰了他和他的工作人员一年多。
他声称，这群人“在周五晚上的一次假日活动中，围堵并殴打了我、一名工作人员和一名志愿者。”
他说，Reedy和该组织的其他成员开始大喊脏话，扰乱节日活动，促使他试图退出活动，“将扰乱者从参加活动的家庭和孩子身边引开”，但活动人士堵住了所有的出口。
“一旦我们能够推开一扇门并试图出去，Reedy发动了骨盆推力，随后用头撞我的额头，”de León声称。“为了保护自己，我的反应是把他从我身上推开。在随后的斗争中，Reedy用握紧的拳头打了我的脸，暴力地肘击了一名女性工作人员，并在惊恐的家长和孩子面前打伤了一名志愿者。”
周五早些时候，混乱在市议会会议上爆发，当时德莱昂自2021年10月卷入闭门会议丑闻以来首次露面，他与当时的市议会主席努里·马丁内斯(Nury Martinez)和市议会的第三名拉丁裔成员吉尔·塞迪略(Gil Cedillo)一起出席了会议。在今年早些时候泄露的会议录音中，马丁内斯据称在讨论重新划分选区以保住他们的权力时，对她的同事和白人议员迈克·博宁的黑人儿子发表了种族主义言论。
Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin De Leon speaks at an event in Los Angeles, April 14, 2018 while then serving as a Democratic state senator.
NurPhoto via Getty Images，文件
在周五的理事会会议上，与会的社区成员对de León的出现发出嘘声，而Bonin突然站起来，怒气冲冲地离开了会议。骚乱导致休会，德莱昂没有返回会议。
德莱昂说，他试图代表他的选民参加会议。
“在煽动者爆发后，我留在了房间里，让委员会主席有机会重新控制会议，并允许公众评论继续进行，因为在场的许多人都是我的选民，”德莱昂说。“不幸的是，这两件事都没有发生。”
但是德莱昂的离开并没有减少喧闹的会议。相反，即将离任的市议员保罗·科雷茨(Paul Koretz)利用他的告别演说向抗议者开枪，称他们“在过去两年里尽最大努力让我们难以开展工作。”
“用他们自己的话来说:我放弃我剩下的时间。去你的，”科雷茨说。
虽然没有听到德莱昂和塞迪略在泄露的磁带上发表种族主义言论，但要求他们和马丁内斯从市议会辞职的呼声越来越高。马丁内斯为自己的言论道歉10月从理事会辞职。
尽管加州州长加文·纽瑟姆和总统乔·拜登呼吁德莱昂和塞迪略辞职，但他们拒绝辞职。
10月26日，市议会以12比0的投票结果公开谴责了这三名议员。
LA councilman embroiled in racist tape scandal being investigated for fighting activist at holiday event
A Los Angeles City Councilman who hasrefused to resignover a leaked audio recording of him participating in a meeting in which racist comments were made about his colleagues, is now being investigated by police after a video surfaced allegedly showing him getting into a fight with a community activist at a holiday event, authorities said.
Councilmember Kevin de León was video recorded Friday night getting into a physical confrontation in front of parents and children at a toy giveaway and Christmas tree lighting event in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles to which police were called to quell the violence, according to a statement issued by the Los Angeles Police Department on Sunday.
A video obtained by ABCLos Angeles station KABCshowed de León, wearing a red and white Santa Claus hat, being confronted by a group of activists calling him a racist and apparently attempting to block his path as he tried to leave the event. In the footage, which has been posted on social media, one of the activists, identified as Jason Reedy, is seen standing nose-to-nose with de León before the councilman shoved him onto a table and grabbed his jacket, pushing him out of the camera's view.
After the incident, de León claimed he was attempting to defend himself after saying Reedy had headbutted him. De León filed a battery complaint against Reedy, who countered by filing his own battery complaint against de León, according to the LAPD.
The LAPD said the incident is under investigation and no one was taken into custody.
"Kevin de León is a disgrace. Video footage clearly shows him and his supporters initiating this assault while Mr. Reedy stands with his hands up," Reedy's lawyer said in a statement. "Not only has Kevin de León lost all political legitimacy, his claims that he was the one attacked here simply underscores how he's lost touch with reality."
De León released a statement alleging Reedy is part of "a group of so-called 'activists'" that has been harassing him and his staff for more than a year.
He claimed the group "cornered and physically assaulted me, a staff member, and a volunteer during a holiday event on Friday evening."
He said Reedy and other members of the group started shouting obscenities and disrupting the holiday event, prompting him to attempt to exit the event to "draw the disrupters away from the attending families and children," but the activists blocked all the exit doors.
"Once we were able to push open a door and try to get out, Reedy launched a pelvic thrust, followed by a headbutt to my forehead," de León alleged. "My response, in defense of myself, was to push him off of me. In the ensuing struggle, Reedy struck me in the face with a closed fist, violently elbowed a female staff member, and injured a volunteer in front of horrified parents and children."
Earlier Friday, chaos ensued at a city council meeting when de León showed up for the first time since becoming embroiled in the scandal over the closed-door meeting in October 2021 he attended with then-City Council President Nury Martinez and a third Latino member of the city council, Gil Cedillo. In the recording of the meeting, leaked earlier this year, Martinez allegedly made racist comments about her colleagues and the Black son of white councilmember Mike Bonin while discussing redistricting to hold onto their power.
During Friday's council meeting, community members in attendance booed de León's presence and Bonin abruptly stood up and stormed out of the meeting. The uproar caused a recess to be called and de León did not return to the meeting.
De León said he attempted to attend the meeting to represent his constituents.
"I remained out of the room after the outburst by agitators to give the council president the opportunity to regain control of the meeting and allow public comment to continue since so many of those present were my constituents," de León said. "Unfortunately, neither of those things happened."
But de León's departure did not curtail the raucous meeting. Instead, outgoing City Councilmember Paul Koretz used his farewell speech to take a parting shot at protesters, saying they "have done their best to make it difficult for us to do our work in the last 2½ years."
"In their own words: I yield the rest of my time. F*** you," Koretz said.
While de León and Cedillo were not heard making racist comments on the leaked tape, calls have grown louder for them and Martinez to resign from the city council. Martinez apologized for her comments andresigned from the council in October.
De León and Cedillo have refused to step down from the council despite calls from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden for them to do so.
On Oct. 26, the city council voted 12-0 to publicly reprimand the three councilmembers.
