NAACP Affirms It Will Press Forward With Police Body Camera Lawsuit Against Pasadena, Two City Officials

A lawyer representing the NAACP Pasadena Branch in a lawsuit filed against the City of Pasadena, City Manager Steve Mermell, and Police Chief Phillip Sanchez said Thursday that the national organization’s General Counsel has approved the litigation and agreed that “the lawsuit should continue.”

The lawsuit alleges improprieties by the City Manager and Police Chief in obtaining body camera funding, in issuing the policies for the use of the cameras and in certain aspects of the policies themselves.

Today’s statement released by civil rights attorney Dale Gronemeier said NAACP Pasadena Branch President Gary Moody made a “time-sensitive decision” on November 20 to authorize the Branch to initiate the lawsuit without first passing through the NAACP’s normal five-step ratification process.

Gronemeier said that as of Wednesday, all five of the NAACP’s “levels of decision-making unanimously” have now agreed that the lawsuit will continue.

In addition to the NAACP, the lawsuit names Northwest Pasadena activist Michelle White as co-plaintiff.

The lawsuit alleges that the City Manager and Police Chief implemented a “bait-and-switch” scheme in using a “more progressive body camera policy” to obtain $250,000 in Department of Justice funds, to obtain letters of support for the funding from the local NAACP President and others, and in community meetings and discussions on the body camera policy, but then switched to issuing a less progressive final policy without further public vetting or resubmitting the policy to the Department of Justice.

The lawsuit further alleges that the issuance of the policy was done in a manner that subverted the Pasadena City Council’s right to instruct the City Manager and his subordinates on policy.

Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that the policy designates body camera audio and video as “investigative materials” prior to any investigation “so as to illegally prevent their public release.”

The City of Pasadena has not issued a statement in connection with the lawsuit.

On November 22, City spokesperson William Boyer said in an email that “We will not issue any press statements about any pending litigation…”