School Board Candidates React to Video of Elementary School Janitor’s Encounter With Police

Candidates running for the  Pasadena Unified School Board called for an investigation into an encounter between a local elementary school janitor and Pasadena police officers. 

Police responded to a 911 call Sunday morning in which a caller claimed to have seen someone carrying a backpack climb a fence to gain entry to the back area of San Rafael Elementary School. 

Police body-worn camera video of the incident released on Monday showed arriving officers using a bolt cutter to enter the campus.

Police saw a man inside the school through an open door and ordered him to come out with his hands up. Officers pointed long guns at the man and handcuffed him before questioning him. Both procedures are routine when investigating a possible felony burglary in progress, a police source said.

The man turned out to be a longtime Pasadena Unified School District employee.

(The long guns were later reported by the City to have been non-lethal and which use a projectile made of foam, designed to stun and not injure.)

The janitor was cooperative throughout the incident. 

“I don’t need to climb the gate, I have the keys,” explained the unidentified janitor, who allowed police to search his phone to contact the principal.

“The incident that occurred with the San Rafael custodian and the Pasadena Police is really unfortunate,” said candidate Patrice Marshall McKenzie. “I applaud the swift and decisive response from Superintendent McDonald to call for a full and comprehensive investigation. I hope that PUSD Leadership, Pasadena Police Department, our local elected leaders, and community stakeholders will collaborate on a path toward an appropriate resolution to this situation. Every PUSD employee deserves the opportunity to perform their job with dignity and without fear of having their safety compromised.”

McKenzie is running against Xilian Stammer in District 3. 

“I am concerned with the way this employee was treated,” Xilian Stammer. “I do understand and appreciate the police and neighbor being vigilant about safety, but this could have and should have been handled much better. We had a hard working school employee only trying to get to their job, and this level of intensity wasn’t necessary.” 

District 1 Candidate Rita Miller said that after reading media reports on the incident, “questions and concerns undoubtedly arise. The police and the schools need to work together in a respectful, cohesive, dutiful relationship.  Moving forward on this situation, all parties must collaborate with utmost transparency and good intentions.  As I tell my students, being respectful and kind is a rule not only for the classroom, but for all situations. Our schools must remain safe for the students of Pasadena.”

Miller faces Billy Malone in the District 1 race. Malone was the one candidate who declined to comment to Pasadena Now about the incident, saying “out of respect for the roles of the superintendent and current board” whose comments represent the PUSD community voice on this matter at this time.

The incident has riled some parents who have asked for a town hall meeting with the school and local police. 

“I believe this incident warrants further investigation and review of the call that came into the dispatch center,” said Patrick Amsbry, who is facing incumbent Michelle Richardson Bailey in District 3. “And I have urged the Community Police Oversight Commission to put this on their future agenda for evaluation.” 

City Manager Cynthia Kurtz said on Tuesday that while the caller that initiated the call for service is concerned during the call, the caller is not inflammatory, and there were no racial overtones to the call.

According to Kurtz, officers questioned the man, who has not since been identified and, per protocol, handcuffed him for approximately 6-1/2 minutes until they could verify that he was a PUSD employee with permission to be on a closed campus. 

District 7 Candidate Yarma Velazquez said that neighbors, staff and police should work together and listen with empathy to ensure the safety of the children.

“I walk to San Rafael Elementary School in the mornings with both of my kids,” said Velazquez. “I know my neighbors are supportive and invested in our school’s success. This incident opens a more extensive conversation about the systemic challenges around school safety and policing communities of color.”

“Imagine going the extra mile at work because you take pride in what you do and suddenly being confronted by the police.  This is a scary situation and cannot happen again to any PUSD employee.  Our beloved head custodian complied with police under terrifying circumstances and resumed his duties even after the incident.  He is an excellent example of how the PUSD staff works hard every day to ensure the safety of our schools and children.”

According to a report filed by California Metro Patrol obtained by this media outlet, a security officer summoned to the scene said when he arrived and entered school grounds he saw “what appeared to be a janitor detained on the steps. He stated he was on campus on overtime to clean the school. [He] mentioned that he could provide the number to the school’s principal, Mr. Ramirez.”

The report said that immediately upon verification of the facts, police uncuffed the janitor and left the campus.

“Like so many in our community, I am saddened and angered by the Pasadena Police Department’s response to a neighbor’s phone call involving a ‘suspect’ at one of our elementary schools,” said District 7 Candidate Juan Pablo Albán.

“The recently-released video shows that the officers who arrived on the scene made no effort to avoid a violent confrontation with the brown-skinned ‘suspect’ who showed nothing but respect from the beginning, who wore a PUSD custodian’s uniform at his long-time school of employment, who had keys to the school, and who explained calmly and politely who he was from the beginning,” Juan Pablo Albán.

 “Nevertheless, the officers restrained the school employee at gunpoint, handcuffed him, and forced him to the hot asphalt on his bare knees for no apparent justifiable reason. Meanwhile, this gentleman was working on a Sunday to make ends meet at the request of his own long-time government employer, PUSD.

“Pasadena can and must do better as a community. The first step towards improving is acknowledging that these types of government abuses of force can and do occur, and they disproportionately affect people of color.”  

Albán, who works as an attorney, said he is eager to learn what the Pasadena Police are doing to train officers to de-escalate these types of encounters, the appropriate response to the vast majority of their public engagement.

Pasadena Interim Police Chief Jason Clawson said the job of officers is “to approach a situation based on the information provided to us in the initial call to our dispatch center.  Our officers received that information and conducted themselves in a professional and polite manner as I’d expect from our entire department.  The custodian was detained, cooperated and understood the process the officers had to go through to validate that he was permitted to be on a closed school campus.”