Judge temporarily halts release of Pasadena police shooting report

A judge issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday that prohibits Pasadena officials from releasing the results of an independent consultant’s investigation into the 2012 fatal police shooting of an unarmed teenager.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant granted a request by the Pasadena Police Officers Assn. to issue the order pending a future decision on how much of the report should be disclosed under the law.

“I am not going to disclose it until I decide the merits,” the judge told lawyers for the city, the police union, a group of Pasadena organizations and the Los Angeles Times. “There is one chance to prevent the bell being rung.”

The report, written by the Office of Independent Review, examined the killing of 19-year-old Kendrec McDade, who was shot by Pasadena police officers as he ran on Sunset Avenue on March 24, 2012.

The shooting sparked protests and calls for increased civilian oversight of the city’s Police Department.

The district attorney’s office found that the officers believed McDade was armed with a gun based on false information from a 911 caller, who 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.

Chalfant on Tuesday allowed The Times to join others who are seeking the report’s release under the state’s open records law, including McDade’s mother and an array of Pasadena organizations.

The judge said he will make a decision after an Oct. 14 hearing.

The police officers union has argued that the report contains personnel information that state law requires be kept confidential.

Richard A. Shinee, the union’s attorney, said the city planned to release a version of the report that is mostly unredacted. “It is pretty clear the city has only taken a minimalist approach,” Shinee told the judge.

Kevin L. Vick, an attorney for The Times, said the police union had failed to produce evidence that the report included confidential personnel information. Many details about the shooting have already been made public in federal court or other government reports, he noted.

Vick said the city had effectively made the report public by providing a copy to the officers’ lawyers. “If you choose to disclose to someone, you disclose to everyone,” he said in court.

After the hearing, McDade’s mother, Anya Slaughter, described the delays in releasing the report as “devastating.”

“It’s time to let it go and for me to find out what happened to my baby,” she said.

The judge last week rescinded a similar restraining order after an attorney for Slaughter and other organizations pointed out that the city had yet to decide whether it would make the report public. Two days later, the city announced it would release a redacted form of the report with sections it deemed personnel related blacked out.

The announcement prompted the police officers association to seek another restraining order on Tuesday to prevent the report’s release.

For more Southern California crime news, follow @lacrimes.