Court of Appeal Issues Thanksgiving Eve Stay Blocking Release of Redacted OIR

The California Court of Appeal issued a Thanksgiving eve stay blocking Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant’s November 13 judgment ordering the release, over the objection of the Pasadena Police Officers Association (“PPOA”), of a heavily redacted version of the Office of Independent Review Group (“OIR”) Report on the Pasadena Police Department’s shooting of the unarmed young African- American youth Kendrec McDade.

After lengthy court proceedings before Judge Chalfant and his twice privately reviewing the City of Pasadena’s 14 pages of redactions to the OIR Report, Judge Chalfant ordered the City of Pasadena to release the Report on December 3 to the interveners in the PPOA-initiated lawsuit — i.e., McDade’s mother, Anya Slaughter, the LA Times, the Pasadena NAACP, the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, ACT, and Kris Ockershauser, convener of the Coalition for Increased Civilian Oversight of the Pasadena Police Department.

The Court of Appeal stay now further delays the Report’s release while it decides what to do with the PPOA petition to stop release of any part of the OIR Report.

Elbie J. Hickambottom, General Counsel for the Pasadena NAACP and one of the attorneys for the Interveners, expressed dismay today that the PPOA has once again blocked public disclosure of even a heavily-redacted OIR Report.

“The PPOA’s position is so extreme that it would essentially block any public scrutiny of police officer conduct. The PPOA’s intransigent protection of the few bad apples in the Police Department does a disservice to the great majority of Pasadena Police Officers who are conscientiously doing their jobs,” Hickambottom said.