Activists Demand “Do Over” for Internal Affairs Investigation of Officers Who Killed Unarmed Man

The mother of police shooting victim Kendrec McDade joined eight civil rights activists in demanding the Pasadena City Council require a new police internal affairs investigation of the two officers who killed her unarmed son in 2012.

McDade was shot by Officers Jeffrey Newlen and Matthew Griffin during a pursuit in which they were responding to a 911 call that a pair of armed robbers had held up a man. That call turned out to be false. McDade was not armed.

City officials said such an investigation – called an administrative review by Pasadena police – has already taken place, and conclusively found that the shooting was within policy.

The activists, however, contend that conclusion was flawed and point to what they claim are police procedure and policy violations by the officers ignored by Police Chief Phillip Sanchez within the original review.

“We view it as a whitewash that he did for political reasons because he was new and relatively weak chief and felt he needed to make a bad decision on the issue in order to get in favor with the rank and file,” civil rights attorney Dale Gronemeir said Monday before the Council meeting. “We think everything that’s come out makes his position that there were no violations of policy, absolutely indefensible.”

Chief Sanchez said earlier there have already been multiple reviews of the officers’ actions.

“There was a criminal review, there was a review by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, there was a review by the United States federal government, the FBI, and internally by the Pasadena Police Department,” Sanchez said on April 18. “There were no policy violations. The FBI didn’t find any civil rights violations, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office exonerated the officers for the legality of the shooting.”

Sanchez also noted that full information on the incident has not yet been released, due to litigation. It is possible to misconstrue parts of what has been released, he said, without knowing the full context.

At Monday night’s Council meeting, eight speakers focused one by one on specific aspects of the shooting which they felt are sufficiently compelling to warrant a fresh internal affairs investigation.

One speaker was the Kendrec McDade’s mother, Anya Slaughter.

“There are questions raised by Officer Newlen’s version of events,” an emotional Slaughter told the Council. “Officer Newlen had seen Mr McDade’s hands and did not see him raise his arms as to shoot… given that he was shining his weapon’s tactic light on him [McDade] from a short distance before shooting.”

“For this reason I believe an internal affairs investigation should be undergone for this armed murder of Kendrec McDade,” Slaughter said.

The ninth speaker was Michelle White, who said the activists’ Coalition was performing the role intended for the Council’s own Public Safety Committee and has become a de facto police oversight committee.

White summarized the group’s demand.

“We believe you should instruct staff that a review is necessary before, and should be concluded by, September 2,” White said, referring to the date the group believes is the final day before the statute of limitations to conduct such an investigation takes effect.

The group’s comments were made during the Council’s public comments time and were not an agendized discussion.

Mayor Bogaard, however, responded to the group by saying that he was requesting City Manager Michael Beck to “formulate a staff response to it, taking into account the comments and taking into account the extensive review and investigation that has been done within the police department already on this matter.”