LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles police have launched an investigation into an altercation between Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León and a community activist who have accused each other of assault during the embattled councilman’s recent appearance at a Christmas tree lighting in Lincoln Heights.
De León—who has refused intense pressure to resign from colleagues and activists ever since a leaked audio was released of an October 2021 conversation about redistricting that featured racial slurs and blunt talk of political power grabs—was on stage at Lincoln Park at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 9 when a group of five to six people approached him. The group rushed de León as he tried to leave the stage with a woman and her infant, according to de León’s communications director Pete Brown.
