Pasadena Councilman Won’t Face Charges in Gun Incident

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has declined to prosecute a Pasadena City Council member accused of threatening a group of teen-agers with a gun last month during a street altercation, saying there is insufficient evidence that he committed a crime.

Councilman Isaac Richard also will not be prosecuted on the allegation that he was illegally carrying a concealed weapon in his car, district attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said Monday.

The incident occurred July 11 as Richard left a festival at a recreation center in northwest Pasadena, which he represents. Several witnesses reported seeing a bottle hurled in Richard’s direction, after which the councilman opened the trunk of his car.

Police arriving at the scene found an unloaded revolver in the trunk and arrested him.

But a youth who told police that Richard brandished the gun has not come forward, Gibbons said, and another witness said that Richard only displayed the gun without brandishing it.

The councilman has vehemently denied brandishing or displaying the gun. But even if Richard removed the gun from his car, Gibbons said, the evidence could lead to the conclusion that he had done so in self-defense. Thus, it was determined that Richard did not illegally use the gun in a “rude, angry or threatening manner.”

Richard presented evidence that he had visited a target range earlier that day, indicating there was no criminal culpability in carrying the gun in his car, the spokeswoman added. The law prohibits carrying a pistol concealed in a vehicle, but makes an exception if the gun is in a locked trunk and is being transported for a lawful activity, such as target practice.

Richard, who is black, responded to the district attorney’s action in clearing him by berating the police who arrested him.

“This type of thing has been going on nationwide, with police trying to undermine black elected officials,” he said Monday.

The councilman added that the arresting officers had detained him in handcuffs in the back of a squad car for 20 minutes before taking him to police headquarters, where he was released on his own recognizance. “It was a flagrant attempt to embarrass me before my constituents,” Richard said.

Lt. Rick Law, spokesman for the Pasadena Police Department, said he would “expect any of our officers, if they see anybody with a gun--black, white or whatever--to react in the same way. Obviously, that means to take them to jail if they’re running around out there with a gun.”

The incident has played a part in a motion by one of Richard’s City Council colleagues to censure him for “abusive” behavior. His arrest on weapons charges was one of the incidents cited in the motion, which the council will consider at its regular meeting today.

Richard charged that the motion was part of a campaign against him by a “white, racist City Council.”