South Pasadena Officer Charged in Hit-Run Crash

The turmoil besetting the South Pasadena Police Department crossed the line from embarrassment to potential crime Tuesday as prosecutors filed misdemeanor charges against an officer over a hit-and-run crash that the department allegedly tried to cover up.

Thirteen days before the statute of limitations would have expired, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office filed one count of misdemeanor hit-and-run and one count of giving false information to a police officer against Scott Ziegler, 33. He was immediately placed on paid leave.

“A crime is a crime,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Grosbard. “It doesn’t matter who commits it.”

City officials were tight-lipped Tuesday, saying that they did not want to add to the avalanche of negative publicity about their San Gabriel Valley town, which has been rocked by a sex scandal in the Police Department and the conviction of a former assistant city manager on embezzlement charges.

The city’s legal woes have mounted so rapidly that its city attorney quit last week after only a month on the job. Monday night, the city hired the firm of Beltran, Leal & Medina to do its legal work, with partner H. Francisco Leal serving as interim city attorney.

Ziegler’s alleged crash helped spur city officials this month to take the extraordinary step of hiring a private investigative firm to probe the Police Department. Police Chief Thomas Mahoney, who has discounted cover-up allegations by dismissing the case as a paperwork error and who decided to keep Ziegler on the force after the crash, is on indefinite voluntary paid leave.

And the city now faces a lawsuit from the woman whose car was damaged in the collision.

“It certainly confirms that there was a motive for them to engage in the cover-up,” said attorney William Genego, who filed the lawsuit, about the criminal charges. “It was in fact criminal conduct.”

After The Times reported on the crash this month, city officials and prosecutors began to sort through conflicting statements and updated and materially changed police documents.

The crash occurred the afternoon of Sept. 8, 1995. Authorities say Ziegler was driving a Camaro he had just been given by his father-in-law, former South Pasadena Mayor Ted Shaw. As he drove on Pasadena Avenue about 50 mph, Ziegler’s Camaro hit a parked Honda in the rear, stopped and then sped off, according to the police report.

Five police cruisers arrived at the scene. When Ziegler reported to the station for duty that evening and was asked about the crash, he told investigators that his car had not been working for some time, Grosbard said. But Grosbard said authorities determined later that night that Ziegler had been driving the Camaro.

Mahoney was on vacation at the time, and Capt. Michael J. Ward fired Ziegler, city officials said. But Mahoney rehired Ziegler two weeks later, they said.

Marisa Colatriano, the damaged Honda’s owner, was told by police for two months that they did not have a suspect in the crash, she alleges in her lawsuit filed this month. At one point, officers suggested to Colatriano that they had a suspect but that he was dangerous, the lawsuit alleges.

Colatriano says she was never paid the $550 in damage to her car. But city officials say Mahoney told them that she had been paid. They also said Mahoney told them that the district attorney’s office had declined to charge Ziegler, but Grosbard said the case was not presented to them until this month.

Ziegler’s name was omitted from the original police report about the crash. After inquiries from The Times about the crash this month, Mahoney said he was reopening the investigation. Ninety minutes later, Ziegler’s name was added to the crash report, and Colatriano said Ziegler called her offering to pay for the damages.

Mahoney went on sick leave Aug. 14, city officials said, as a Pasadena private investigation firm was hired to probe his department. In Mahoney’s absence, Ward became acting chief.

Late last week, Grosbard said, South Pasadena police brought the case to the district attorney’s office. He said he filed the charges Tuesday based on the information the department acquired in its investigation 11 months ago.

Neither Mahoney nor Ziegler returned phone calls to their homes Tuesday.

Each count against Ziegler, who is scheduled for arraignment in Pasadena Municipal Court on Sept. 17, carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, prosecutors said.

“Normally, charges like this don’t carry the maximum penalty, especially in light of [the defendant’s] past record,” Grosbard said.

“It’s a very common type of charge,” he said. “Nothing unusual about it.”

Correspondent Mayrav Saar contributed to this story.