Supporters of Jailed Black Lives Matter Organizer Accuse Pasadena Police of Surveillance, Harrassment, Brutality

[Editor’s Note:  This story has been updated to include a statement from Pasadena Chief of Police Phillip Sanchez.]

Supporters of Black Lives Matter Pasadena organizer Jasmine Richards held a press conference outside the Pasadena Jail Friday morning and accused local police of surveillance, harassment, brutality and a pattern of hostile behavior that, they said, is not in line with American democracy.

“We are increasingly bombarded by the rehetoric that the U.S. government and all of its smaller governments, including the city of Pasadena, are committed to upholding freedom, justice, equality and constitutional rights,” said Richards’ attorney Nana Gyamfi. “Pasadena police and prosecutors are not doing that. They are arresting and prosecuting people for their political beliefs and for their exercise of their free speech rights.”

Gyamfi stood with two other speakers and a small number of Richards’ supporters as they waited for Richards’ charging and arraignment in the Pasadena Courthouse across the street.

The group had been waiting for about three hours as law enforcement and court officials gave various accounts of Richards’ location, the room in which the hearing would be held, and the time of the arraignment.

Richards, 28, of Pasadena, was arrested Wednesday night in connection with a confrontation between police and Black Lives Matter supporters in La Pintoresca Park on Saturday, August 29.

In that incident, a number of people who had concluded an earlier peaceful Black Lives Matter march saw police officers take a young black woman into custody across the street from the park for a matter unrelated to the march.

The group, allegedly incited by Richards, reportedly attempted to intervene in the arrest.

None of the group was arrested that day, but police did make a series arrests during the week, including that of Richards.

“The Pasadena Police Department and its prosecutors are … terrorizing the community,”  Gyamfi said. “With intimidation, with violence, with false arrests, with false imprisonments, and retaliatory prosecutions that are being used to kill free speech and criminalized civilians who are struggling for the right to be human, right here in Pasadena.”

Gyamfi said all all charges against Richards should be dropped and Richards should be freed.

Separately, Pasadena Chief of Police Phillip Sanchez issued a statement in which he said that his department “supports the Constitutional rights to assembly and free speech, but the actions of Jasmine Richards and others went beyond the law when they interfered with the lawful duties of police officers, interfered with a lawful arrest and blockaded police vehicles in the roadway.”

Michael Williams, who said he is a member of Black Lives Matter Pasadena, also spoke at the press conference.

“This is about a vendetta that the police have against the Black Lives Matter Pasadena and those who are involved with Black Lives Matter Pasadena,” Williams said. “Black Lives Matter Pasadena is under attack by the Pasadena police. They’re not just trying to take away our freedom of speech, they’re trying to take away our freedom.”

Black Lives Matter Long Beach organizer Dawn Modkins said what is happening in Pasadena mirrors law enforcement actions across the United States.

“We’re not just talking about Black Lives Matter Pasadena chapter today,” Modkins said. “We’re talking about Long Beach, we’re talking about New York, we’re talking about L.A., we’re talking about Chicago, we’re talking about Baltimore, we’re talking about Ferguson. An attack on one of them is an attack on our entire organization and an attack on the black community.”

Richards was charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney later in the day with felony lynching, a technical term describing the California offense of an attempt by a rioter to force a detainee from police custody.

She pleaded not guilty, according to Los Angeles County District Attorney spokesperson Greg Risling.

Bail, originally set at $125,000, wsas reduced to $75,000 in Friday’s arraignment hearing.

Richards’ next court date has been set for a September 23 preliminary hearing.