Pasadena : Zinzun Report Not Public

The special investigator looking into a violent confrontation between police and residents at the Community Arms apartment complex last year said he urged City Atty. Victor Kaleta to tell residents that the final report would not be made public.

Edmund Wilson told the Board of Directors Monday that he feared an uproar if residents did not understand that the report had to be confidential to protect the rights of the police officers involved. Kaleta did not respond.

Some residents and board members believed that the report, completed last December after more than 70 interviews with police officers and civilian witnesses, was intended to provide a full public airing of the incident.

Michael Zinzun, a community activist who said he was blinded in one eye during the confrontation, and his supporters have been pushing the board to release the report.

Zinzun’s attorney, Terrence Bennett, said he agreed that the report could not be legally released. But he said Kaleta was insensitive for not informing the board and the public earlier that it would remain secret.

Pasadena Police officers Christopher Vicino and James Ballestero have been charged with unnecessarily beating resident Stevie Eugene Rivers during the incident. Both men have plead not guilty.