Caree Harper makes her case against police

Attorney Caree Harper is making national headlines, accusing the Pasadena police of wrongdoing in the death of 19-year-old Kendrec McDade. But long before Harper focused on suing police departments and defending the accused, she wore the uniform.

Harper was an officer in the Fairfield Police Department in Northern California from 1989 to 1994. Her experience ended on a controversial note, filing race and sex discrimination claims against that department and later accusing officials there of trying to derail her post-police career.

Despite those obstacles, Harper, 44, earned her law license and during the last 10 years has filed 17 civil lawsuits against law enforcement agencies. Three of those cases have been against Pasadena police, none more high-profile than the case she filed this month on behalf of Kendrec McDade’s family.

McDade died March 24, as officers Mathew Griffin and Jeff Newlen were responding to an armed robbery call. They encountered McDade on a dark Northwest Pasadena street and, according to Pasadena police officials, saw McDade’s hand near his waistband before opening fire. McDade was not armed.

Nine days later McDade’s family, represented by Harper, filed a lawsuit claiming police mishandled the incident and were engaged in a “cover-up” during the ensuing probe.

Citing ongoing investigations and the lawsuit, Pasadena officials have not commented on the claims.

After the shooting, police discovered that the person who called in the robbery, Oscar Carrillo, lied to a 911 dispatcher when he said the suspects had guns. Police also believe McDade was the lookout for a 17-year-old accused of taking a laptop computer from Carrillo’s car.

But Harper has been unstinting in her criticism of Pasadena police.

“This frantic attempt to shift the blame to Mr. McDade is repulsive,” she said. “Kendrec was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Harper declined to answer most questions about her background, though her website states she has won at least two six-figure settlements in cases against law enforcement agencies.

“The focus should be on the grieving parents and answers from police — not me,” she said.

But Tom Beck, an attorney who has worked with Harper on three cases, says her police experience is part of what makes her an effective attorney. Harper, he said, is a “bulldog. She knows how to win, has a lot of street smarts and thinks on her feet.”

Harper first sued the Pasadena Police Department in 2004 on behalf of Damian Esteem, who accused the department of excessive force. The city ultimately agreed to pay $24,000 to two college funds for Esteem’s children.

Harper also sued Pasadena police on behalf of Michael Miller, who accused officers of excessive force in quelling a 2003 incident with Miller and two other foster youth. The city settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Harper has also filed two lawsuits on her own behalf.

In 2007 Harper sued, and briefly represented herself, in a case against a security officer at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. In documents, she alleged the guard, Robert Frank, improperly grabbed her arm and hurt her at the entry of the courthouse.

Stephen Ronk, who represented Frank, said Frank stopped Harper because she tried to walk away from her suitcase in the security area after repeatedly setting off the metal detector.

A jury found Harper’s claim was without merit, according to Ronk. Harper declined comment.

In 2005, about a decade after Harper left the Fairfield Police Department, she sued Fairfield and its police chief, claiming that the agency’s failure to respond to a San Diego County district attorney’s office request for background information caused her to lose a job opportunity with the San Diego prosecutors’ office.

That case was settled, according to court documents. Harper declined comment. An attorney for the Police Department did not return calls.

But it is clear Harper has made the conduct of police officers a central theme in her legal career.

On April 10, Harper stood on the steps of Pasadena City Hall during a rally with members of the McDade family and said she is working to weed out the “bad apples” in law enforcement.

“I’m here for the 90% that do their job, and the 10% who don’t do their job,” she said.