Community event in Palms marred by incident involving improper conduct of council member

Council member mocks journalists and hits PCC President Kay Hartman

The Palms Community Council planned an event for this weekend when an incident occurred in which a member of the PCC behaved in a manner unbecoming of a community leader. The event, Palms Community Day, was attended by City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto, and during the incident, PCC President Kay Hartman was knocked to the ground.

Journalists William Gude, also known as Film the Police, and Jonathan Green came to the event to question Feldstein Soto about her past and allegations of misconduct. While the journalists attempted to question Feldstein Soto, she evaded the reporters by refusing to answer their questions. A member of The Palms Town Council, Kyle McAuley, began verbally taunting Gude by using foul language, as seen on the video. McCauley is an elected official.

In this video, McCauley can be seen reversing into PCC President Kay Hartman while taunting Gude:

In addition, McCauley also mocked the question posed by Jonathan Green, a journalist and Palms resident, who asked about an upcoming cleanup and “crushing” of mobile homes on Cotner Avenue. McCauley responded to the question, “Sure, we are.” When Green replied that he was a Palms resident, McCauley replied, “Maybe you should live somewhere else.”

William Gude issued a statement to us via social media, saying, “An elected official repeatedly verbally abused and assaulted me in his official capacity at an official city event, while violating my constitutionally protected rights to free speech and assembly. We cannot allow this to become a precedent. The City of LA must immediately suspend this official and remove him from the Palms Neighborhood Council.”

In a later post on Instagram Stories, a shirtless Kyle McCauley repeated the infamous and untrue MAGA allegation about Haitian immigrants that Donald Trump amplified in speeches that led to school closures in Ohio due to bomb threats. He said, “Before we know it, all over Los Angeles, Haitian immigrants will be eating our pets.”

The PCC and individual members of the Council, such as President Kay Hartman, are procedurally prohibited from making statements to the press without a vote of the Council. Despite our request for comment, they declined to comment on this issue for these reasons.