Police Injury Suit Settled for $1.2 Million : Pasadena Agrees to Pay Community Activist Blinded in One Eye

The City of Pasadena has agreed to an out-of-court settlement that will provide community activist Michael Zinzun, blinded in one eye in a violent confrontation with police, with up to $1.2 million over the next 35 years.

Under the settlement, one of the largest in the city’s history, Zinzun and his family will get $250,000 in cash immediately and a $300,000 annuity that will provide them with $1,750 a month for up to 35 years.

In addition, he will receive $250,000 in four payments, ranging from $25,000 to $100,000, over 20 years.

In exchange, Zinzun, 38, agreed to drop his civil rights suit against the city, in which he alleged that he was beaten and falsely arrested in the June 22, 1986, fracas at the Community Arms low-income housing complex in northwest Pasadena.

The settlement, which was made final Tuesday, will also provide a total of $100,000 to Rudolph Hayes, Steve Rivers and Frank Taylor, who were also involved in the confrontation with police.

Zinzun, chairman of the Los Angeles-based Coalition Against Police Abuse, a 50-member group, hailed the settlement as a “great victory” vindicating his claim that police officers used excessive force during the incident.

“It’s all over, and now I can begin picking up the pieces of my life,” Zinzun said. “The money will . . . send a clear message to the city and the Police Department that they can no longer act like judge, jury and executioner.”

Attorney Raymond J. Fuentes, who represented the city in the case, said the settlement was a fair resolution.

“Given the seriousness of Mr. Zinzun’s injuries and the potential for enormous legal costs to fight the case, I thought it was best to settle this and put the issue to rest,” Fuentes said.

In a prepared statement, the Pasadena Board of Directors, the city’s governing body, expressed its approval, saying: “Each time something of this nature occurs, we learn. As a result, our policies have improved and our commitment to service has been enhanced.”

Police Chief James Robenson said the department has established a citizens advisory committee, improved officer training and strengthened its policy requiring officers to identify themselves to citizens.

Increase Protests

Zinzun, who stopped work as a printer after his injury, said he intends to buy a house in Pasadena and increase his protests of police brutality and South Africa’s apartheid policy. A former Black Panther who advocated violent revolution during the 1960s and 70s, Zinzun now describes himself as a “radical Socialist.”

The settlement does not affect the pending criminal case against Pasadena Police Officers James Ballestero and Christopher Vicino, who were charged last March with acting improperly in subduing Rivers.

Vicino, who had been on the force for 14 months at the time of the incident, has been assigned to a desk job. Ballestero, a two-year veteran, left the department last March.

The incident began at 1:30 a.m., when Vicino and Ballestero responded to a complaint of a family disturbance at the Community Arms.

The two officers saw Rivers and questioned him because he resembled a man involved in the disturbance, Ballestero reported. While the officers talked with Rivers, they heard police dispatchers report that a car alarm had gone off nearby. Vicino said the report prompted Rivers to run.

Rivers was chased down, struck on his legs, sprayed with Mace and handcuffed, Vicino reported.

Badge Numbers

Rivers’ cries for help attracted about 30 people, including Zinzun, Hayes and Taylor. Witnesses said the group demanded the officers’ names and badge numbers. Soon afterward, a fight broke out between Taylor and several officers who had arrived to help control the crowd, Ballestero reported.

Ballestero said that as he ran to help, Zinzun punched him in the chest and ran about 30 feet down a driveway, out of sight of the crowd.

Ballestero said Zinzun injured himself when he fell in the chase; Zinzun claimed that he was injured after officers pushed him to the pavement and struck him in the left eye with a flashlight.

Hayes was sprayed with Mace during the confrontation, Fuentes said.

Rivers was arrested on auto burglary charges, but the district attorney’s office declined to file charges. Zinzun and Taylor were taken into custody and booked on suspicion of resisting arrest.

Six months after the confrontation, the city prosecutor filed charges against the three, but they were dropped last August because of insufficient evidence.