Los Angeles

Woman Set to be Arraigned for Alleged Attack on Former LAPD Chief

A woman who allegedly threw an ashy substance at then-LAPD Chief Charlie Beck during a raucous meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission in May is set to be arraigned Friday on four misdemeanor charges.

Sheila Brim, 55, was charged July 24 with one count each of assault on a public official, battery, unlawfully depositing or disposing of human remains and unlawfully throwing a substance in a place of public assemblage.

Brim allegedly threw a substance toward Beck at the May 8 meeting at the Los Angeles Police Department's downtown headquarters, and some of it got onto the chief, according to LAPD spokeswoman Detective Meghan Aguilar.

As she was walking away, Brim shouted, "That's Wakiesha," hinting that the substance may have been the ashes of her niece, Wakiesha Wilson, who died while in LAPD custody in 2016.

Police said Wakiesha Wilson was found hanging in her jail cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center, and the coroner's office ruled her death to be a suicide. Activists disputed the ruling, arguing that Wilson was not suicidal.

The city agreed late last year to pay Wilson's family nearly $300,000 to settle a lawsuit they filed over her death.

Brim -- who was identified by police as Sheila Hines-Brim -- was detained and arrested by Los Angeles police but subsequently released later that day.

Beck subsequently obtained a temporary restraining order requiring her to stay at least 100 yards away from him, his work and his home and at least five yards away from him during Police Commission or other meetings, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Also arrested the same day at the commission meeting was Melina Abdullah, who was identified as a leader of the Los Angeles arm of Black Lives Matter.

Abdullah, 45, is charged with eight misdemeanor counts, including one count each of battery on a public officer, resisting arrest, refusing to disperse and interfering or obstructing a public business establishment, along with three counts of unlawfully disturbing and breaking up an assembly and meeting and two counts of unlawfully and intentionally interfering with the lawful business of the Police Commission, according to the complaint.

Two of the charges against Abdullah stem from the May 8 run-in, while the majority of the charges involve alleged crimes in July 2017 and August 2017, according to the complaint.

In a posting on Instagram, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles urged supporters to attend the court session and alleged that the two women are "being prosecuted for standing up against police violence."

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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