The Death of Reginald ‘JR’ Thomas: A Community Divided

The death of a black man while in police custody early last Friday morning has left a number of local residents angry and questioning the Pasadena Police Department’s practices in regards to African Americans and set off two noisy demonstrations through city streets demanding change.

The man has not been officially identified by authorities, but relatives, friends and neighbors said he was 36-year-old Reginald Thomas, Jr., known as “ JR.”

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detectives, who are conducting the investigation, together with Pasadena Police acted with unusual speed over the weekend to release a 911 call and a grainy video of portions of the incident taken from security cameras at the apartment complex in the 250 block of East Orange Grove Boulevard, where it occurred.

Neither the audio or the video seemed to satisfactorily explain what happened during the incident or to dampen the criticism of police.

Thomas’ death comes during a time of continuously increasing tensions between black citizens and police all across the country as incidents involving deaths of black men during police encounters continue.

Pasadena Mayor Terry Tornek, however, is quick to separate the Thomas incident from any other police-involved deaths elsewhere in the country.

“It’s sort of unfair to lump all of these together,” he told The Los Angeles Times over the weekend. “I would just ask people to be patient.”

“We’ll continue to do the quiet work we do to make sure people are treated fairly,” Tornek added. “We’re trying to do our best to make sure these incidents don’t escalate and end in fatality. It’s very upsetting.”

According to Captain Steven Katz of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the basic facts surrounding the death of Thomas are these:

Pasadena Police responded to two cell phone calls around 2 a.m. early Friday morning.

The first call disconnected and police could not locate the address from which it was made. Then, at 2:35 a.m., a second call for help reporting a family disturbance was received.

The second call was made by a man who told the police operator he was Thomas’ brother. The man said that Thomas had a knife but had not threatened those in the in the apartment, that the caller “could tell” that Thomas was high on drugs, and that Thomas had been violent in the past.

There appears to be no clear evidence that Thomas himself placed any calls for help to the police.

When the first two officers arrived, Thomas reportedly confronted officers carrying a large knife under his left arm and holding a fire extinguisher in his right hand.

According Katz, when Thomas refused to drop either the knife or the fire extinguisher, officers tasered him causing him to drop both the items.

Katz said that Thomas “was still not cooperative with the verbal commands given by the officers, and a second taser was deployed, which seemed to have little effect.”

The initial two officers, as seen in the grainy apartment surveillance video, were quickly joined by two more officers, then one more, and then another, as a total of six officers joined the response.

Pasadena officers physically struggled with Thomas in order to take him into custody, Katza said, and Thomas fought back. The officers applied a hobble restraint around his feet, in order to control his legs.

Thomas was ultimately handcuffed and taken into custody.

Shortly thereafter, Thomas “went into distress, and stopped breathing,” Katz said.
The police officers started cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) until Pasadena Fire/Paramedics arrived. Paramedics continued CPR until the suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.

The exact cause of Thomas’ death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. As of this morning, no official cause of death has been released.

Shainie Lindsay, who together with Thomas had four children and is pregnant with a fifth, said she was in the residence with two teenagers at the time of the incident.

“They was wrestling with him, was kicking him in the head and beating him with the baton stick,” Lindsay told KTLA in a videotaped interview Friday morning. “Then, after that, they was doing CPR and then he was dead.”

Thomas, who was reportedly the father of eight children, was well-known in the Orange Grove Garden apartments where he lived. Many residents and friends called him “Daddy Daycare.” His Facebook account shows multiple references to the Christian faith and is filled with pictures of Thomas surrounded by his smiling children.

As of this morning, no official complaints have been filed allegeding that Pasadena police officers acted out of procedure. Much of the physical struggle between Thomas and the police occurred inside the apartment, out of view of the apartment complex’s security cameras.

Councilmember John Kennedy, who chairs Pasadena’s Public Safety Committee which oversees police, said Sunday that “it is always a tragedy when there is an unintended loss of life. We grieve for the family and the children of the deceased, Reginald Thomas.”

“From my limited experience in law enforcement, domestic cases can be some of most difficult calls to roll out on,” Kennedy continued. “Our officers respond to thousand of calls of service each year. Each call presents a new set of issues and facts. Yet, the Pasadena Police Department must respond with legal justification, professionalism, excellence, and fairness every time, without exception.”

“It continues to be my recommendation for the City to disseminate timely as much accurate information to the public as legally possible, Kennedy continued. “Through the ensuing various investigations, I am confident that the truth will be documented and shared. Justice.”

Local civil rights attorneys Dale Gronemeier and Skip Hickambottom, who successfully sued the Pasadena Police Department in connection with the death of Kendrec McDade in 2012, issued the following statement:

“The prompt release of video of the Pasadena Police’ fatal encounter with Reginald Thomas, Jr., is welcome. But the underlying policy that allows the Police Chief to cherry-pick which video to release and when to release is unacceptable. Pasadena needs a uniform policy on video release that doesn’t allow the Police Chief to decide to release only video that doesn’t reflect badly on the police.

The apartment complex video that police released doesn’t appear to answer many of the serious questions about why this encounter escalated rather than de-escalating. Pasadena deserves answers to why the Police encounter with Mr. Thomas escalated even after he no longer had his knife, while in a similar encounter recently a suspect who retained his knife during a 6-hour standoff de-escalated and the suspect lived.”

James Farr of the Pasadena Black Pages, said, “We just ask for the police department to be transparent. We ask the police department and the investigators and the District Attorney to look thoroughly into this situation.”

Jasmine Abdullah Richards, Black Lives Matter Pasadena leader, has been among the most visible and vocal of the police department’s critics, berating them loudly and profanely at the scene Friday morning, as well as at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night.

“You killed my friend!” she repeatedly shouted at them, tears streaming down her face.
Richards also led the weekend’s two protest marches, emphasizing the need for marchers to be peaceful and respect private and personal property.

“Don’t f—k sh-t up!,” she told the marchers outside Pasadena City Hall Friday night before the group estimated between 300 and 400 marched through Old Pasadena.

The first protest, on Friday evening, saw marchers, many holding candles, march from Orange Grove Boulevard at North Marengo Avenue, near the scene of the incident, to Pasadena City Hall, south to Colorado Boulevard and through Old Pasadena before making its way back to its starting point.

The smaller Saturday march moved east to the Rose Bowl where demonstrators gathered on the property, and made speeches angrily denouncing the police before returning once again to Marengo and Orange Grove.

In both cases, the police presence was very limited, Police allowed both marches to move, unimpeded, through the streets and block traffic. Though a police helicopter hovered overhead, police made no attempt to stop demonstrators from marching.

Many of the protesters also demanded to know why police officers wore no body cameras. In June, the Pasadena City Council Monday unanimously approved the purchase of 320 body worn cameras for the Pasadena Police Department. The cameras have not yet been deployed, awaiting policy decisions on their use.

The policy and procedures are now subject to the “meet and confer” process with a union bargaining unit, the Pasadena Police Officers Association (PPOA), City Manager Steve Mermell said recently.

The family of Reginald Thomas and their attorney Caree Harper will hold a press conference at noon today in front of the Pasadena Police Department to announce “new developments.”