Here’s How Long it Took the District Attorney to Complete Past Officer Involved Shooting Investigations

Several City Council members have asked city staff to produce information on the length of time it took the district attorney’s office to investigate local officer-involved shootings (OIS).

The call came during a discussion of the city’s OIS policy at last Monday’s special City Council meeting.

The D.A.’s office is investigating the Aug. 15, 2020 shooting of Anthony McClain by Pasadena police.

McClain was a passenger in a car that was pulled over by police  on North Raymond Avenue near La Pintoresca Park for failing to display a front license plate.

After the driver and McClain were asked to step out of the car, McClain ran from officers. Police say McClain removed a handgun from his waistband as he fled, prompting Officer Edwin  Dumaguindin to open fire. McClain continued running a short distance before tossing a handgun across the street and collapsing, according to police.

Some local residents say they don’t see a gun in police body-worn camera footage of the incident.

McClain’s DNA was recovered from a pistol that police seized at the scene, police investigators said.

The city has reached a $7.5 million settlement with McClain’s family.

But 18 months later, the D.A.’s office still has not rendered on the actions of the officers, which has led to criticism from some local residents.

On Monday the City Council voted 5-2 against a request for the city manager to establish a policy that would have required the police to complete its internal investigation, which is standard and is separate from the district attorney’s investigation, within nine months of an officer-involved shooting.

“I think we can all agree that leaving these difficult incidents to fester for years while we wait for the D.A.’s determination letter is not good for the victim’s families, the public trust or the officers,” Vice Mayor Andy Wilson told Pasadena Now on Wednesday.

“I understand and appreciate the desire to try to improve/accelerate this process. That being said, we need to consider more than just the immediate Anthony McClain incident, but look at the history of OIS incidents to understand the nature of each and the time lag to get D.A.’s letter, and then ultimately completing the administrative review.  Point being, our goal should be to improve the system broadly and without a more complete context it is hard to fully characterize the problem and therefore potential solutions.  I suspect some portion of incidents could be resolved more quickly without waiting for D.A. letter — in particular those OIS at both ends of the extreme only leaving the ones in the gray area where the D.A. analysis would be particularly informative to the administrative review.”

Mayor Victor Gordo said that years-long investigations are detrimental to public confidence.

“It doesn’t help to have a district attorney’s office that takes one, two, three years in matters that are of very high importance,” Gordo said. “It doesn’t help public safety.  It doesn’t help public trust in any of our systems.”

 Gordo called on the city’s police chief to write a letter to District Attorney George Gascón calling for more resources on investigations. Pasadena Interim Police Chief Cheryl Moody will reach out to other police chiefs that are waiting for long investigations to conclude.

“I think we should do all we can as a city to persuade like-minded police chiefs and other elected officials to take this matter up with the District Attorney,” Gordo said.

Clark, Barnes and McDade

The length of D.A. investigations in past OIS incidents has been much shorter for a myriad of reasons.

It took the D.A.’s office roughly nine months to clear the police officers in the 2012 Kendrec McDade shooting. That incident was one the most controversial critical incidents in modern times.

The fatal shots were fired after a brief car and foot pursuit ended on Sunset Avenue near Orange Grove Boulevard. The pursuit began after a man named Oscar Carrillo-Gonzales told a 911 dispatcher that McDade and a companion robbed him at gunpoint.

The officers, believing McDade was armed, shot the teen seven times. Local investigators spent 48 hours searching for McDade’s weapon. Ultimately, Carrillo-Gonzales admitted to lying when he told the dispatcher that McDade was harmed.

Investigations at the district attorney’s office into the shootings of Maurice Clark and Leroy Barnes were also concluded in less than a year.

On April 24, 2004, a Pasadena police officer fatally shot Clark  shortly before midnight after a foot pursuit that ended in a carport in the 300 block of West Howard Street. Clark fired his weapon at a Pasadena police officer who returned fire at the muzzle flash striking Clark in the upper torso, according to police.

After the shooting, many local residents claimed Clark was unarmed at the time of the shooting. The incident resulted in the first calls for police oversight in Pasadena.

Despite assertions that Clark was unarmed, Clark’s father, Dexter Clark, told the Pasadena Weekly during an exclusive June 2004 interview that he believed his son was in fact armed the night the shooting occurred. According to Dexter Clark, his son owned a gun and he discovered it was missing the night of the shooting.

The father’s description of the weapon matched one found at the scene by Pasadena police. Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian asked the FBI to look into the Clark shooting. The district attorney’s office cleared the police officers seven months later. The FBI cleared the officer who fired the fatal shot two years later in 2006.

Five years later, the department again found itself under scrutiny after police fatally shot Barnes during a traffic stop on Mentone Avenue, just south of Washington Boulevard.

Police shot Barnes 11 times — seven times in the back — after he refused to remove his hands from a backpack. One of the officers entered the backseat and attempted to take Barnes’ hands out of his backpack, which contained a gun. A struggle ensued.

Barnes gained control of the weapon, fell out of the car and brandished the gun, but was shot before he could fire his weapon.

Nine months later the district attorney’s office cleared the officers. A report by the Office of Independent Review (OIR) found multiple policy violations. The OIR only examines adherence to policy and makes no decision on if a crime was committed by officers or the suspect.

Here’s the current Pasadena OIS policy

According to current Pasadena police policy, following an OIS, an in-custody death, and other critical incidents, Pasadena detectives and the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office conduct separate criminal investigations.

Pasadena police detectives immediately respond to the scene to begin a criminal investigation and they notify the D.A.’s office. When detectives complete their case, it is submitted to the district attorney’s office where a prosecutor reviews the case to decide if officer’s actions were justified under California law.

If it is determined the officers acted outside that framework, prosecutors determine if criminal charges should be filed against the involved officers.

“There is a complex overlay of processes that unfold when we have an officer involved shooting,” said Councilmember Steve Madison. “The desire to make the right decision and not just a quick decision. It’s certainly not a perfect system, and if I could change one thing, it would be the D.A. would be more expeditious in a thorough comprehensive review of all of the evidence.”

Backed up

The D.A. is not just reviewing cases from Pasadena.

The D.A. is also responsible for OIS incidents in other cities in the county and incidents involving the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which patrols unincorporated parts of the county.

The incidents are also being investigated during the pandemic.

Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department fatally shot seven people in 2020, and 12, in 2019, according to the LA Times. According to the reports on the district attorney’s website, the D.A. last released a report on an officer involved shooting in December. That shooting took place in 2019. Several other recently released reports were probes of incidents that happened in 2020.

One report released in November detailed an investigation from an LAPD shooting in 2017.

Councilmember Tyron Hampton on Monday called for a motion to “condemn” District Attorney Gascón.

 There was no second on that item and a vote was not taken.

“Everybody has said the D.A. is not doing his job, and if he is not doing his job we need to make a statement,” Hampton said,