Blacks Seek Independent Probe of Clash With Police

Angry leaders of the black community packed the Pasadena Board of City Directors meeting on Monday, demanding an independent investigation of a recent violent confrontation between police and residents of a low-income housing project.

Three people were arrested in that confrontation, one of whom said he was permanently blinded in his left eye during the fracas. None has been charged, and the entire incident is under investigation by the district attorney’s office into “any criminal wrongdoing on the part of any Pasadena Police Department officers,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Mason said.

During a two-hour hearing on Monday before a crowd of about 150 residents and representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and the city’s Urban League, Mayor John Crowley declared, “We’re going to get to the bottom of it. We’re going to take proper action.”

The city directors said last week that they would open an independent investigation and named the Los Angeles law firm of Cotkin, Collins, Kolts & Franscell to carry it out. But Monday’s audience denounced the choice, saying that the law firm, which is known for its defense of police officers in brutality cases, is incapable of an “unbiased investigation.”

Bowing to that pressure, city officials said Monday that the investigation will be conducted by a different entity, which has yet to be named. The violence occurred on June 22 at the Community Arms housing project in northwest Pasadena, a predominantly black neighborhood.

Deputy Dist. Atty Walter Lewis, who is assigned to the prosecutor’s Pasadena office, said the incident began about 1 a.m. when police were taking Steve Rivers, 30, into custody on suspicion of burglary.

“He started screaming that he was being beaten and several people came out,” Lewis said in a telephone interview.

Lewis said several witnesses told of seeing police beat Rivers with night sticks after he was handcuffed. According to witness accounts, he said, the situation escalated when a crowd of 15 to 30 people began shouting for the officers to stop and demanded that they give their names and badge numbers.

Among those in the crowd was Michael Zinzun, 37, a community activist and longtime police critic who is the Peace and Freedom Party’s candidate for the 55th Assembly District seat. Zinzun lives next to the project.

Police say Zinzun struck an officer. Zinzun said he was trying to walk away when he was attacked by “five to seven” officers who clubbed, Maced and hit him with a flashlight, rendering him unconscious and blinding him in one eye.

Booked on charges of interfering with an arrest were Zinzun, Rivers and Frank Taylor, 32. Lewis said he is awaiting the outcome of the district attorney probe before deciding whether to file any charges against Zinzun. No charges will be filed against the other two, he said. “I think at first blush it does not look good,” Police Chief Jim Robenson, referring to the allegations against the officers, said in an interview Monday. “That’s why we’ve got to investigate. I need to find out what happened. At Monday’s hearing, amid cheers and applause, Zinzun, his left eye swollen shut and his head marked by stitches, said, “I’m not here to indict the entire Police Department. We’re not talking about being anti-police. We’re talking about being anti-police abuse.”