McDade Shooting Report Dominates Council Meeting

[Updated Tuesday, November 24, 2015 | 10:10 a.m. ]   Released last week after a lengthy court battle, the Office of Independent Review Group’s report on the 2012 Pasadena Police shooting of Kendrec McDade dominated Monday evening’s meeting of the Pasadena City Council.

More than 25 speakers took over two hours before the Council started consideration of the evening’s agenda items to comment on the report, following an announcement by Mayor Terry Tornek that the Council’s Public Safety Committee would hold hearings on the report December 7.

Tornek told the crowded room that the hearings would be a “point-by-point discussion on the recommendations in the OIR Report, for as long as it takes.”

During Monday’s Council meeting, community members exercised their right to comment during the public comments time. Councilmembers only rarely interact with speakers at length during this time.

Dale Gronemeier, the attorney representing The Coalition for Increased Civilian Oversight of Pasadena Police (CICOPP), outlined the group’s case against the police conduct based on information in the report, and led a group of speakers who similarly argued against various aspects of police conduct by citing the report.

According to Gronemeier, the group is demanding the hiring of an independent police auditor, the transfers of the officers involved in the McDade shooting — Matthew Griffin and Jeffrey Newlen — to desk duty, and a public hearing in which all questions regarding the shooting “can be fully answered.”

“We don’t want a dog and pony show from the police department,” added Gronemeier,“and we don’t want a filibuster. There were too many questions in the report that were not answered.”

Attorney Elbee “Skip” Hickambottom then criticized the failure of the department to conduct an administrative investigation of the shooting after the criminal investigation was concluded, and both the Los Angeles County District Attorney and the FBI decided not to charge the officers with wrongdoing.

“An investigative review is not an investigation,” he said.

McDade’s mother, Anya Slaughter delivered a halting, emotional plea to the council, also asking why Chief Phillip Sanchez had not conducted an administrative investigation into the shooting.

“As a mother, I requested a complete and accurate report of this incident. I also want all the recommendations in the OIR report, answered,” she said. Slaughter also cited the report’s recommendation that the officers be re-interviewed following the completion of the criminal investigation, and suggested questions to be asked.

“The Pasadena Police Department refused to re-interview the officers involved. I want to know why,” she said. “I also want to know why the officers did not activate a Code 3, and turn on their lights and siren, which is very important.”

Among a number of questions, Slaughter also questioned why the officers did not activate the cameras in their patrol cars.

“Why didn’t the officers broadcast over their radios that they were chasing a subject that they believed to be armed?” she asked the council.

“I believe the officers never feared for their lives, and that they intentionally gunned my son down.” she said. She highlighted a number of report recommendations to be implemented, but asked the Chief directly, “to please, implement all the recommendations.”

Jeannette Miyamoto, representing All Saints’ Church, said, “I want to be safe. We don’t know whether the officers involved felt safe that night. We know that Kendrec certainly didn’t feel safe, as he was running for his life. But we also know that maybe the Pasadena Police Department didn’t feel safe, because they wanted to suppress the OIR Report, and because of the way the questioning of witnesses was handled. Terrible mistakes were made, and it led to a terrible, tragic death, but we should not be afraid to speak about them, and especially to learn from them now.”

Miyamoto cited the OIR report in saying that only telephonic interviews of witnesses were conducted, a procedure which the report recommended against. Minamoto told the council that a more accurate interview would have been conducted with eyewitnesses, had it been done in person.

Robert Cristo, of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, spoke to the report indicating that the officers never radioed to fellow officers that McDade had a gun, nor did they assert to the interviewing officers that they thought McDade had a gun.

“This is extremely troubling in the fact, that someone’s life has been lost,” Cristo said.

Councilmember Steve Madison spoke up to point out to Cristo that 911 calls to dispatch from the original victims in the case stated that both McDade and his partner had  a gun. (It was revealed three days later that the caller had lied about the presence of a gun, in order to get a faster response from the police.)

Speaker Juliana Serrano, on staff at All Saints Church, reminded the Council that some of the recommendations following the Pasadena Police Department shooting of Leroy Barnes in 2009 have yet to be implemented.

A number of other speakers took issue with various poor police tactical decisions the OIR report concluded were made during the incident, including the improper use of the “box-in” technique, as well as the delay in interviewing the officers following the shooting.

The meeting took a unexpected momentary turn when Councilmember John J. Kennedy criticized a comment by Pastor William Turner. Turner, who described himself as the “senior pastor in this city,” said, “My role is to pray, for the mayor to do the right thing, and I pray for the Chief. I pray that he would be safe. His officers face danger every day. He is a great Chief, …and I believe that he does everything possible to lead his officers in the right direction.

“I have two suggestions,” Turner continued, “The chief should seek regular clergy counsel for his officers, and pastors and parents should counsel their children that the man who wears the badge is in charge. You don’t resist an officer and expect not to face the consequences. I train my people, ‘Do not resist. Whatever the officer says, I think we ought to abide, because they have the badge, they have the authority, and if we would train our children, then this occasion might not never happen.”

A visibly angered Kennedy responded, “This is not about the Chief. This is about a young man, and the interaction that the young man had with the Pasadena Police Department, and a resulting death. It is also about the Office of Independent Review Group’s assessment of what took place on the night Kendrec McDade was killed.

“I don’t want anyone in our community telling me or anyone else that they do not have the lawful right to do certain things, that our constitution, state law and ordinances of the City of Pasadena allow,” he continued, his voice rising. Kennedy paused, and then said, “I will stop for the moment, because there is an appropriate time to address the ridiculous comments that were just made at the podium,” drawing several gasps from the surprised audience. Kennedy then left the chamber, returning a few minutes later.

David Yanez, of the Pasadena Police Officers’ Association, who followed a few more speakers critical of the police department, reiterated his group’s support for the department as well as the officers involved in the McDade shooting.

Finally, Michael Williams of Black Lives Matter Pasadena delivered an angry and anguished address to the council, shouting and reminding them that “This is about a young man who was killed! And the Pasadena Police actively tried to hide this from the public! That’s not hyperbole. That’a fact! And we are all here, talking about how Chief Sanchez does this, and Chief Sanchez does that, and I can’t say that to Kendrec. I can’t say what a good football player Kendrec was, or what a good student he was, or what a good brother he was, to his face, because he is dead!”

“Officers Jeffrey Newlen and Matthew Griffin killed him,” Williams continued. “They turned off their lights so the cameras wouldn’t see them. They knew they were doing something wrong. We’re here for Kendrec McDade. We’re not here for Chief Sanchez.”

Following the public comments, Councilmember Victor Gordo said, “We welcome the opportunity to go over the report, but I want to emphasize that this shooting was not premeditated, this event was not a murder.”

During the formal council agenda, the Council unanimously approved a staff recommendation that the City attorney create an ordinance in the next 30 days that would prohibit the cultivation and sale of marijuana in the city of Pasadena.

Every speaker during the public comment time who addressed the marijuana issue spoke against the creation of the ordinance, including members of the medicinal marijuana community and industry, as well as patients who depend on the drug as medicine.

“Prohibition is not a good idea,” said entrepreneur Rich Rigg. “You can’t afford to regulate this. The cat is already out of the bag, and you can’t go back.”

Sonny Chan, who works for a marijuana delivery service, told the council, “Do not take marijuana delivery away from my patients. At the very least, take a vote of the public.”

A local lawyer also presented an ordinance she had crafted for the council which would regulate the sale of marijuana. “It took me two months. It’s yours if you want it.”

The Council agreed, as part of the ordinance, that the Council would revisit the issue before the end of 2016.