Part 76: Scientology and LAPD Corruption – The Violent Attack on Confident Chris in Hollywood
Published Feburary 6, 2024
Screen capture of YouTuber Confident Chris before he was assaulted and robbed by an unknown individual during a rain storm in Hollywood (Photo from YouTube).
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By Zachary Ellison, Independent Journalist
As the atmospheric river storm continued to drench Los Angeles, the now regular protests against the controversial Church of Scientology in Hollywood continued. YouTuber Confident Chris, a nice young man, who I had spoken to while covering the demonstrations before the rain began to drench the city for days on end, had told me that I was going to stream too, I should use TikTok instead of YouTube “because it has more vertical.” Soft-spoken with a smile, he was unfortunately attacked Sunday February 4 not far from the Scientology complex on Sunset Boulevard known as the “Blue Building.”
The unknown attacker, believed to be an African-American male, approaches him while almost to his car near Fountain Ave and Edgemont Street, “Hey bro, you have some change” to which Chris replies “I don’t, sorry,” and the man replies “C’mon man,” and Chris again replies that he doesn’t. The man again asks for money, and gets rebutted, then the attacker says “it’s cold out here, I’m just trying to get something to eat man” while Chris attempts to walk away, before the attacker asks about his phone asking to “call somebody” before restating that it’s cold as the rain falls. The man then strikes from behind.
A brief struggle, grunting and then rainfall can be heard. Minutes before, the Church of Scientology had again called in another 911 call requesting a welfare check be done, according to an image of a police scanner obtained from another protestor. “PR BELIEVES HE IS ESCALATING HIS ERRATIC BEHAVIOR FOR RATINGS,” it says after complaints about the title of his stream as “Confident Chris VS Scientology Ducks” bemoaning the activity as “DUCKY HUNTING.” It’s unclear at this time if the contact with the Los Angeles Police Department on L. Ron Hubbard Way is related to the assault.
LAPD would not comment on the initial call, but these fake calls have become routine and tremendously waste taxpayer resources by diverting both police and Los Angeles Fire Department Resources. I’ve personally observed groundless calls for both double-overdoses and a heart attack made against this group. The time between Confident Chris’s contact with LAPD and the assault is approximately 10 minutes. The two Latino officers after cruising the block pull up to him and the passenger asks, “are you good?” The driver then says “they’re calling for you,” and appears to say “you know what they’re saying about you,” Chris then asks “any good things?”
The officer then appears to discuss his social media presence, before Chris asks “are you a fan, or no?” The discussion continues with Chris re-assuring him that the Scientologists known him, and that “they’re here every day now, so they should know what we’re doing.” The discussion then continues about the protest activity, Chris finally states “they’ve called like 25 times already on us, but they’re the ones that keep getting arrested.” The police then leave. Chris wasn’t wrong, two nights before I had arrived late after an incident, yet another confrontation with an identifiable member of the secretive organization.
The woman had approached another protestor, and angrily attempted to grab her phone out of her hand. LAPD had arrested the woman, and then released her according to other protestors, perhaps even a few blocks away. The night before, a man had come to confront the group known as the “Squirrel Squad” because of a leaked Scientology email to organizer Jessica Palmadessa, a prominent social media figure and I watched as man in a gray sweatshirt with a ball cap on backwards attempted to confront well-known cop watcher William Gude. The leaked email described the group’s plan to use the following tactic known as “bullbaiting.”
Directed to a woman named “Diane,” the email now available only on Scientologymoneyproject.com is from another Church member Betsy Davis. It starts by quoting L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology from “Signs of Success” stating: “Whenever we’re really winning, the squirrels start to scream. You can tell if somebody is a squirrel. They howl or make trouble only when we’re winning.” She continues by bemoaning the presence of the activists before planning to loudly proselytize at them setting a meeting location and stating the following: “I will warn you, you will be utilizing your bullbait TRs”
TRS, or Scientology Training Routines in documents posted online by former Scientology Perry Scott, and it instructs you to “Sit with eyes open for hours, not moving laughing or twitching, “confronting” coach while s/he tries in every way to make you react.” Perry continues describing “Bullbait (TR0 with counter intention from the Pre-Clear) is the next step on the gradient…You will not progress past TRO Bullbait by thinking about what your tormentor is saying or doing. You must sit passively, wondering what new attack will be used to make you FLUNK.” As I watched the man confront Gude, in the state of the community, or at least attempt to before giving up, it was pretty clear this was the act.
After the encounter, during which Gude relaxed against the car as the man attempted to close personal distance at the rear entrance to Scientology’s palatial Celebrity Center just miles from the Blue Building, he looked over me as to confirm, yeah the guy is really trying to pull an act, “definitely a Scientologist.” I had to agree at that point, so I was unsurprised at the incident which following the next night. Meeting the protestors at the Hollywood Police Station, it became clear that yet again, the LAPD senior leads at the Station were doing more than just normal police work in directing the victim of the attack from a female Scientologist not to film.
Weeks after LAPD wrongfully arrested well-known former Scientologist Aaron Smith-Levin, and even with an open Internal Affairs complaint, it was hard to not notice the ambivalent posture of Detective II Robert Rand, who must quite obviously known Officer Tim Talman, who LAPD would announce and Internal Affairs probe into days later after questions swirled about LAPD’s initial statement that assailant Patrick Perry was not associated with the Church of Scientology. Soon Gude would enter the lobby, along with myself and other activists, cameras in hand to establish the right to film broadly with the space to no further resistance.
In the assault which occurred Sunday night, the most severe of the repeated attacks on protestors on at least two occasions by known Scientologists, Confident Chris was knocked unconscious laying on the pavement on Edgemont Street for an unknown period of time. A fellow streamer alerted by his own viewers of the assault would soon find him after Chris had used the second cell phone in his car to call 911, his new model iPhone haven been taken by the assailant. LAPD reportedly took up to 30 minutes to arrive after the initial call, and it’s unclear if their lights and sirens were on in response.
Later at the hospital after Chris was transported, another protester would confront the two police officers from earlier, who had eventually returned to the area, because of a call to the authorities about the activists streaming inside the building at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. The protestor confronts the two LAPD Officers after they explain the recording policy, “with all due respect, you guys pulled up on us at the beginning very quickly, you guys took forever to come out the second time, we’re not in here recording anybody, we’re here for him out of respect for the fact there where’s anyone helping him right?”
He continues “You guys came incredibly late right, and it’s like Scientology calls or whatever else calls right, they get helped out immediately, so it’s neither here or there but the point being is we’re here for him, we’re not recording anybody else, we’re not trying to invade anybody else’s privacy you that’s just like a flat out ridiculous statement.” The protestor then tells the officers to have “a little bit more compassion.” The officer then states that he was there to take a report from Confident Chris, then stating “I’m actually the one investigating this.” The protestors presses them further. The officer responds, to answer your question about response time, it’s not up to us, it’s up to the dispatch.”
The LAPD officer continues, “let’s say that when Scientology calls for whatever reason, they escalated to a more serious thing, respond faster for this call, I don’t know why they put it as a more serious call.” The activist responds, “somebody getting jumped and several people calling around, not just in LA” before the officer interrupts him, and the activist replies “well that’s a shame on the dispatch then.” The officer then continues by explaining that when “Scientology tell us to come with lights and sirens, we’ll come quick, but it will be up to the dispatch to generate a call for us to respond.”
The second officer then speaks, “additionally to add to that, it wasn’t just you know the escalation, but the perception that you guys are taking it as you know Scientology where they quick, but there was multiple calls generated in regards to your friend and one of the calls were specific to the location, there were multiple areas, it was me that was patrolling the area, we were going around those areas, eventually we linked it to the fire department incident, which led to Edgemont, and that’s where we turned around, so it wasn’t that, we took forever, or we took reference to Scientology, or to a friend, it was were targeting each location to finally…” before he’s interrupted.
The protestor explains the cat and mouse game that’s been happening, and how other calls get more urgent response. The City Attorney’s Office under Hydee Feldstein-Soto has not responded to two requests for comment on the repeated calls being made to dispatch for fire and police resources. LAPD would similarly not comment on this question, although they issued the following statement in response to my questioning:
“A radio call was generated on February 4, 2024, at 10:43 p.m., on the 1300 block of N. Edgemont Street. Comments of the call stated the victim had been transported to a local hospital after an assault and robbery. Officers met with the victim at the hospital, and a robbery report was completed. I cannot confirm the name of the victim, as we do not provide the victim's information.”
The spokesman for Mayor Karen Bass did not immediately return a phone call for a request for comment after answering. Critics have alleged that Scientology, which is known to seek close relationships with law enforcement have consistently been able to use these valuable public resources for the purpose of intimidating protestors through so-called “swatting” tactics. I’ve failed a California Public Records Act request with the LAPD for the 911 calls made that night and any associated reports.
Confident Chris who is also Latino like the responding officers, would be discharged at 3:30 am the following morning after undergoing a CAT Scan. The following day Palmadessa met in-person with Aaron Smith-Levin and Jenna Miscavige Hill, the niece of the leader of the Church of Scientology, David Miscavige who has left the group. Palmadessa declared her intent to reserve L. Ron Hubbard Way with a permit like Scientology had the night before the attack. The protestors are largely undeterred, and there’s widespread speculation that the assault and robbery were part of “Fair Game” practices used by Scientology in targeting critics.
Palmadessa and Smith-Levin don’t believe that the attack was a coincidence, a mugging as many have alternatively presumed. According to Palmadessa, the attack allegedly continued after Chris was on the ground. The assailant had a hoodie drawn around his face. It’s believed that he did not have his wallet on his person, and according to Palmadessa the man “did not appear to be homeless at all.” Days later Palmadessa and members of the Squirrel Squad were out searching for any video of the assault from security cameras. She doesn’t believe that the LAPD is really seriously investigating the attack on her friend, much less whether it was orchestrated by the Scientologists as retaliation.
Undoubtedly, the protests will continue. Cop watcher William Gude, widely known as Film The Police LA for his handle, has become known as “Streets LA” for his new “Scientology Audit” accounts on YouTube and TikTok posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, “My boy got assaulted and put into the hospital, and I’m so fucking pissed.” Noting in comments that “he was robbed for his phone,” before stating “I don’t know about that” in regards to a setup, “Seems like a straight up robbery,” further adding that he would “come at the Scientologists twice as hard now.” As rain continued to fall, the copyrighted music of Scientology continued blaring in an attempt to comprise the streamers accounts with copyright violations. One thing is for sure, the showdown will continue, and it’s escalating as social media chatter swirls.
Link: Confident Chris
Link: Leaked Emails from Scientologymoneyproject.com
Link: Bullbaiting in Scientology
Link: LAPD Officer Admits CALLS FROM SCIENTOLOGY are PRIORITIZED
Link: FilmThePoliceLA Tweet
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Zachary Ellison is an Independent Journalist and Whistleblower in the Los Angeles area. Zach was most recently employed by the University of Southern California, Office of the Provost from October 2015 to August 2022 as an Executive Secretary and Administrative Assistant supporting the Vice Provost for Academic Operations and the Vice Provost and Senior Advisor to the Provost among others. Zach holds a Master’s in Public Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Policy and Planning from the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. While a student at USC, he worked for the USC Good Neighbors Campaign including on their newsletter distributed university-wide. Zach completed his B.A. in History at Reed College, in Portland, Oregon and was a writer, editor, and photographer for the Pasadena High School Chronicle. He was Barack Obama’s one-millionth online campaign contributor in 2008. Zach is a former AmeriCorps intern for Hawaii State Parks and worked for the City of Manhattan Beach Parks and Recreation. He is a trained civil process server, and enjoys weekends in the great outdoors.