What Happened in La Pintoresca Park on Saturday, August 29, 2015?

A series of events and ill-fated decisions led to a dangerous and emotionally charged clash between Black Lives Matter supporters and Pasadena police in La Pintoresca Park last Saturday afternoon.

After the dust settled from the brief but chaotic melee, rhetoric against police has roiled social media and tensions risen in the Northwest community. The arrest of an 11-year-old boy on Monday arising from the confrontation heightened anger and confusion. Last night, police arrested Black Lives Matter Pasadena organizer Jasmine Richards, certain to arouse more passions.

Although police have said little officially, it seems clear they consider the events in the park to have been acts of civil unrest.

What happened in La Pintoresca Park on Saturday? How did we get to this point?

The train of events was set in motion Saturday afternoon when a young black woman went into a restaurant across the street from the park shortly before 4 o’clock Saturday afternoon and ate.

Various accounts indicate the outcomes: after she had eaten, the woman allegedly either could not or did not want to pay for the food and attempted to leave the restaurant. The business owner and her relatives apparently tried to prevent the woman from leaving the location.

At 4:20 p.m., the Pasadena police received a 911 call reporting a fight in a restaurant. According to Pasadena Police Lt. Tracey Ibarra, the 911 operator heard the sounds of a commotion in the background. Units were dispatched to the 1300 block of North Fair Oaks Avenue, across from La Pintoresca Park.

Meanwhile, as fate would play out, supporters of an earlier Black Lives Matter march were mingling in the park across the street from the altercation in the restaurant. The march was over. It had been entirely peaceful and uneventful, Ibarra said.

But then the marchers and their supporters reportedly saw the altercation between the businessowners — who are Latino — and the young black woman as their fighting spilled out onto the sidewalk in front of the restaurant.

“The store owner [was] running after the girl, taking any type of physical force. I think they were definitely out of pocket for chasing that girl because this just in itself ignited fury,”  said one witness, who said she had missed walking in the Black Lives Matter march and was just arriving in the area of the Park to see the events start to unfold.

“All of the people that were in the park all ran to defend the girl,” said the witness.

Ibarra said police responded to the scene and made contact with the business owner. The owner described and identified  the suspect, who by now “had left the location and was across the street and that was in La Pintoresca Park. The same area where the group had finished their walk and were there, just remaining in the park.”

When asked by police if she wanted the suspect arrested, the businessowner said yes and that she would make the necessary citizen’s arrest. The reason a citizen’s arrest was required in this situation was because the officers had not witnessed the alleged crimes occur, officials explained.

Police then sought to take the suspect into custody.

Seeing that the suspect was in the park among a number of Black Lives Matter marchers and supporters, the police officers “waited about 20 minutes or so,” Ibarra said. They did not act to make the arrest until the woman, accompanied by a few individuals, “walked over to the the Raymond Street area, away from the group,” Ibarra said.

“Officers then at that point attempted to go ahead and made contact regarding the assault that had occurred in the restaurant,” Ibarra said. “When the officers attempted to detain her then part of the Black Lives Matter protest group attempted to intercede.”

The witness saw the crowd move towards the police officers. She described the scene.

“You know, it was almost as if the spirit just came over them — just, you know, consumed everyone,” the woman said. “My initial thought was, ‘Oh my God! Someone’s going to get hurt bad. This is going to go really bad.’”

“You can tell [the police] were totally caught off guard and didn’t know what to do,” the witness said.

Police can be seen pulling back in a video of the incident provided to Pasadena Now by the witness. A number of people, some carrying signs from the march or wearing Black Lives Matter shirts, scuffle with the officers. Police appear to form a defensive ring around officers who handcuffed the suspect.

Black Lives Matter Pasadena organizer Jasmine Richards is visible in the video among those in the group which encircled and faced off against the police.

“Officers held them back,” Ibarra said, and ultimately were able to take the suspect into custody.

The officers next seem to be withdrawing towards several parked police vehicles and are not seen moving towards the Black Lives Matter supporters. They appear to be preparing to effect the citizen’s arrest and transport the suspect.

During the video of the commotion, a number of Black Lives Matters supporters and police can be seen in physical contact with each other. Some supporters are heard using the words “police brutality” and some sound as if they are pleading with the officers to be careful with the suspect, saying the police are handling her too roughly.

“I don’t think the officers made bad decisions, necessarily,” the eyewitness said. “I think they showed great restraint in the amount of force that they used. But they showed no emotional intelligence. If one of those officers took the time to talk to people, things would have [gone] much different.”

Both police and marchers and their supporters videotaped the incident. A number of private videos appeared on social media shortly after the incident.

Police made no arrests of Black Lives Matter marchers or supporters involved in the melee at the time of the incident. The only individual arrested, said Ibarra, was the young woman connected with the restaurant incident. She was identified by police as Benita Gina Escoe, 20, of Pasadena, who was arrested for battery. Booking records show she was being held on $20,000 bail.

Social media boiled with videos and commentary about the incident the following day, Sunday, August 30.

Although police made no official statements that day, Black Lives Matter supporters expressed a range of opinions online. Many agreed with the witness who spoke to Pasadena Now, who said the police had handled the situation badly and felt the suspect had been arrested unfairly, while the businessowners had “gotten away” with having assaulted her.

Then on Monday, police arrested an 11-year-old boy who had reportedly been at the scene of the confrontation on Saturday and cited him with a Welfare and Institutions Code for juveniles that mirrors what is commonly called “resisting arrest” for adults. What many fail to realize is that these codes actually cover much more than simply resisting arrest and also cover delaying or obstructing a law enforcement officer who is performing his or her duties.

The boy allegedly was involved in attempts to free the suspect from the police and he also allegedly kicked a police vehicle during the fracas. That act is is a criminal offense.

“He tapped the car,” said one witness. “He didn’t kick it too hard, but he tapped it.”

After his arrest the juvenile, who was not identified, was released into his mother’s custody that same evening, police said.

Then. Wednesday night, Pasadena police arrested Black Lives Matter Pasadena organizer Jasmine Richards, 28, about 5:35 p.m. in Northwest Pasadena and booked her for allegedly committing four crimes during the incident in the park Saturday afternoon.

Ibarra said Richards was arrested for inciting a riot, child endangerment, delaying and obstructing peace officers in the discharge of their duties, and lynching, a technical term describing the California offense of an attempt by a rioter to force a detainee from police custody.

Officials said Richards is being held in the Pasadena City Jail on $125,000 bail.