The attorney for two women who allege Pasadena police officers sexually assaulted them during a traffic stop in 2016 said that officials may have doctored the video released by the City Tuesday morning which appears to refute the women’s claims.
Attorney Dakar Diourbel called into question the tape’s representation of the incident, saying he and his clients would “look forward to the results of any forensic video analysis.”
Diourbel, who filed a federal lawsuit in April against the City, the police and two officers asking for more than $25 million in damages, claims his clients were subjected to a “nightmare of a traffic stop.”
In the lawsuit, the women allege that 43-year-old Sharell Thompson was forced to expose her breasts in public during a search.
The suit also accuses one of the officers of fondling, sexually assaulting and molesting Thompson’s 22-year-old daughter, Sharaya Brown.
Pasadena officials released a police video Tuesday morning which they said refuted the women’s claims.
City officials said that the video “clearly shows that the officers acted appropriately” and that the lawsuit is “unsubstantiated.”
None of the allegations of sexual abuse made in the lawsuit can be seen in the approximately 25-minute video.
However, said attorney Diourbel, his clients “contend that the police dash-cam video posted to the City of Pasadena’s website is an edited version that does not show the full extent of the officers’ search activity, actions, etc.” Diourbel said he wants to see the original police dash-cam video from this encounter.
“We are unsure of the extent to which the video released today was ‘doctored’ to give an appearance of a less intrusive search,” he said.
“It’s not true,” said Pasadena Police spokesman Jason Clawson.
City of Pasadena spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said that the only modification of city video of the incident was the intentional blurring of the license plate number of the vehicle, done only to protect the involved individuals.
Because the incident occurred in 2016, it was prior to the implementation of body-worn cameras on Pasadena police officers, Derderian said.
“The City of Pasadena stands by the truth,” she said.
The video released by the City of Pasadena is shown below.
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