Pasadena Councilman Detained in Gun Incident : Crime: Isaac Richard says he was confronting drug dealers. Youths had taunted him about a recent sex harassment complaint.

Pasadena City Councilman Isaac Richard was detained over the weekend on suspicion of pointing a handgun at a group of youths who were taunting him about sexual harassment allegations recently made against him, police said Monday.

Richard, who has been on the council for a year, was stopped Saturday after an officer saw him standing on a Pasadena street corner with a gun in his hand as a group of youths fled the scene, Police Lt. Van Anthony said.

Officer Randall Finley handcuffed Richard and searched him. During that time, the councilman demanded to be released, telling Finley “you don’t know who I am,” Anthony said.

Richard told the officer that the youths who ran away were drug dealers and that he had “an obligation to his constituents to take care of the matter,” Anthony said.

The 34-year-old councilman said in an interview that he was detained by the white Pasadena officer because he was a black man who has been critical of police.

But Anthony said two of the youths told police that Richard was angry because they called him a “sexual harasser,” in reference to a complaint filed against the councilman last week by Pasadena’s housing administrator.

In her complaint to the city’s affirmative action office, Phyllis Mueller alleged that Richard made threatening remarks and used obscenities during a council meeting on June 30, which she considered to be sexual harassment. The incident is scheduled to be discussed tonight in a closed council session.

Saturday’s incident began about 4:15 p.m. near the intersection of Howard Street and Navarro Avenue, where Richard had attended a block party sponsored by the Harambee Christian Family Center.

Center staff member Priscilla Perkins said a group of youths were standing in front of a nearby store with a copy of a local newspaper containing an article about Mueller’s accusations. As Richard left the party and walked to his car, Perkins said, the youths began taunting him.

“I saw them waving the newspaper, pointing at it, and laughing at him,” she said.

Perkins said she never saw Richard with a gun.

But Anthony, the police lieutenant, said that moments after the confrontation, Officer Finley saw the youths running away, screaming “he’s got a gun.” The officer then saw Richard slip a handgun into the trunk of his car, the lieutenant said. Finley detained the councilman, handcuffed him and subsequently found an unloaded 9-millimeter pistol in the trunk, the lieutenant said.

In the interview Monday, Richard said the youths had threatened him and thrown bottles at him. He said he was acting in self-defense when he opened the trunk of his car and showed the youths, whom he called drug dealers, that he had a gun. The councilman said the weapon was in his car because he had been to a shooting range earlier. He said he never removed the gun from the trunk.

“If I had been a white man . . . I’d have a Purple Heart by now for what I did,” the councilman said. “But I am a black man who has been critical of police.”

Richard was cited for brandishing a weapon and carrying a concealed firearm in a car, both misdemeanors. He was ordered to appear in Pasadena Municipal Court on Aug. 11.

Richard has criticized Pasadena police tactics in raiding gang members’ homes, saying such actions pose a potential for abuse.

He has threatened to sue the city if such sweeps continue.

Lt. Kevin White denied that Richard’s race or political views influenced the incident.