Judge leaning toward partial release of Pasadena police shooting report

A Los Angeles judge said Tuesday that he was leaning toward ordering the city of Pasadena to make public at least a portion of a report by an independent consultant into the 2012 fatal police shooting of an unarmed African American teenager.

Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant said he would make a final decision this week on whether the report about the killing of 19-year-old Kendrec McDade should be released.

Chalfant said during a hearing that he did not want to tip his hand but was leaning toward the arguments by city officials, who said they believed a redacted version of the report could be made public.

McDade’s mother, Anya Slaughter, had asked Pasadena to release the full report by the city’s consultant, the Office of Independent Review Group. The Times and several local civil rights groups, including the Pasadena chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, ACT and the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, joined Slaughter’s request.

The union representing the two officers opposed the release, arguing that the report included personnel information that is confidential under state law.

City officials want to make public a version of the report that would have redacted about 14 pages – about 20% of the document – that they said involved personnel matters, according to court records.

McDade was shot March 24, 2012, by Pasadena police Officers Jeff Newlen and Matthew Griffin as the teen ran on Sunset Avenue. His death sparked protests and calls for increased civilian oversight of the city’s Police Department.

The district attorney’s office concluded that the two officers reasonably believed McDade was armed with a gun based on false information from a 911 caller, who had reported that his laptop had been stolen at gunpoint. The crime turned out to be a simple theft by another young man who was with McDade. Officers believed both men were armed based on the false report.

One of the officers said he saw McDade’s hand at his waistband during the pursuit, according to a district attorney’s report.

The officer, who was seated in a police cruiser, saw McDade running toward the side of his police vehicle and believed the teen had a weapon. The second officer said he was running after McDade and opened fire when he heard and saw gunfire coming from the direction of the teenager.

Slaughter filed a lawsuit over the shooting and recently settled with the city for $850,000.

The Office of Independent Review Group previously examined the controversial Pasadena police fatal shooting of Leroy Barnes Jr. in 2009. The consulting group found that the officers involved in Barnes’ shooting put themselves in a tactically questionable and precarious situation that might have heightened their fear. The consultants recommended more than a dozen reforms, including improvements to how the department investigates police shootings and how the agency tracks officers who are in multiple incidents.

The city adopted nearly all of the recommendations.

The Office of Independent Review Group’s report on the Barnes shooting was previously made public, as were the consulting group’s reports for other law enforcement agencies, such as Fullerton police and the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.

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