Drinking Involved in South Pasadena Officer’s Crash, Memo Says

A hit-and-run crash involving a politically well-connected South Pasadena police officer that was allegedly covered up by the department was characterized as a drunk driving incident by the chief of police in a confidential memo obtained Friday by The Times.

The revelation that alcohol may have been involved in the crash raises the stakes yet again in the case. The author of the memo, Police Chief Thomas Mahoney, went on paid voluntary leave last month. Both the district attorney and a private investigative firm hired by the city are probing the Police Department and its handling of the case after The Times’ report on the crash.

The South Pasadena Police Department has also been racked by a scandal involving alleged on-duty sex between officers and a local woman. With its former assistant city manager pleading guilty to embezzlement and a committee on a utility tax violating state law by meeting secretly this week, the usually tranquil South Pasadena has had a cruel summer.

The one-page memo, dated March 25, 1996, and written by Mahoney for then-City Manager Ken Farfsing, seven months after the crash, provides new details about the crash, which has been the most serious of the city’s legal woes.

On Sept. 8, 1995, a Camaro driven about 50 mph by Officer Scott Ziegler and registered to his father-in-law, former Mayor and City Councilman Ted Shaw, hit a parked Honda then drove off, according to police reports. Deputy Dist. Atty Michael Grosbard said another off-duty officer was in the car with Ziegler.

When Ziegler was first questioned by police he said his car was not working, but soon changed his story and acknowledged driving the car, Grosbard said.

The memo from Mahoney tersely describes the crash as “an off-duty drunk driving incident” and says that four days later, after an internal investigation, Ziegler was fired by Capt. Michael J. Ward, who was acting as chief while Mahoney was on vacation.

Officers Matt Petersen and Frank Litterini received five- and six-day suspensions respectively for their roles in the crash, Mahoney wrote in the memo. Although the memo does not make it clear what those roles were, Petersen said in a brief interview Friday that he was not in the car and was disciplined for his actions at the scene, which he would not detail.

“I didn’t commit any crime,” Petersen said. He added that the minor traffic accident has been blown out of proportion by the media, but would not comment further.

According to the memo, Petersen and Litterini both “urged Ziegler to drink with them” that day. Litterini could not be reached for comment and Ziegler did not return a call seeking comment.

Thirteen days after he was fired, Ziegler appealed his termination and Mahoney soon agreed to rehire him, Mahoney wrote in the memo.

Mahoney, in his memo, wrote that neither of the two captains in the department objected to the reinstatement. But in an interview with The Times on Friday, Ward said: “It is not a true statement. I did oppose it. . . . I told the city manager that when he asked.”

In an interview with The Times before the district attorney’s investigation began, City Manager Farfsing, who had the final word on the hiring, said Mahoney told him the officers involved felt bad they “lost” Ziegler his job.

“I put together a checklist of things [Mahoney] needed to comply with to hire him back,” Farfsing said. “The first was [Ziegler] go to the person and turn himself in and make restitution . . . [then police] file with the D.A. to make sure it wasn’t a misdemeanor.” Ziegler would also “lose all vacation and sick [leave] and start over . . . and get down on his knees and beg for his job.”

Farfsing said Mahoney told him those requirements were met--but Mahoney is contradicted by prosecutors. The owner of the damaged car, Marisa Colatriano, says in her lawsuit filed against the department that for two months police told her they did not know who the driver was, and that she was never paid for the more than $500 in damage.

Ziegler’s name was omitted from the police report until the department added it after inquiries from The Times last month. The report listed the driver’s level of intoxication as “unknown.”

Also, prosecutors say they were not presented with the case until last month, only a few weeks before the statute of limitations expired. They charged Ziegler with misdemeanor hit-and-run and making false statements to a police officer.

Grosbard said prosecutors were presented with insufficient evidence to charge Ziegler for driving under the influence. After he was charged with hit-and-run, Ziegler was placed on paid leave of absence.