Kendrec McDade shooting: D.A. backs Pasadena officers’ claims

Pasadena police officers had “a reasonable fear of imminent death or serious bodily injury” when they shot an unarmed teen during a robbery investigation in March, according to a report released by Los Angeles prosecutors Monday.

The findings by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division wrap up the first of several investigations into the March 24 death of Kendrec McDade, a 19-year-old African American from Azusa. McDade’s death set off demonstrations and criticism by civil rights leaders, as well as a lawsuit filed by McDade’s family.

Officers Jeff Newlen and Matthew Griffin were responding to a report of two armed men leaving the scene of a robbery on Orange Grove Boulevard shortly after 11 p.m. when they encountered McDade running on Sunset Avenue. Oscar Carrillo, the man who told 911 dispatchers that assailants had threatened him with guns, later admitted to lying about the weapons in order to generate a faster police response to the robbery.

Officers told investigators that McDade was clutching his waistband as he charged toward a police cruiser, and investigators later said McDade had a cellphone in the front pocket of his sweat pants.

Griffin, in the front seat of the police car, shot McDade four times as McDade ran toward him. Newlen, who was behind the patrol car pursuing McDade on foot, shot McDade four more times after hearing Griffin fire his weapon. Newlen believed McDade had fired at Griffin and was turning to fire at him, according to the report.

Around the same time, other officers arrested another teen found in the area. That teen subsequently pleaded guilty to juvenile charges related to the robbery. The teen said he was with McDade that night, but also said they had no weapons, according to the prosecutor’s report.

Carrillo was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after admitting he lied, but prosecutors declined to file charges.

Carrillo’s false assertion and the officers’ version of the encounter with McDade factored into the conclusion that the shooting was lawful, according to the report written by Deputy Dist. Atty. Deborah Delport.

“Once the officers perceived that McDade posed an apparent lethal threat, their response with deadly force was justified,” she wrote.

In a statement, Pasadena Police Chief Phillip Sanchez said the incident has taken its toll on the community and the department.

“It is my desire that those impacted by this event will continue to heal as we await the final reports from the [Los Angeles County] Office of Independent Review, the FBI and the administrative review by the Pasadena Police Department,” he said.

Attorneys for McDade’s parents found the report flawed.

Dale Galipo, who represents McDade’s mother in a lawsuit against Pasadena police, said the conclusion is “not surprising, but very disappointing.”

Galipo said it is becoming common for officers to claim that unarmed shooting victims were reaching for their waistbands.

“All these unarmed people reaching into their waistbands when there’s nothing in their waistbands is not believable,” he said.

Caree Harper, who represents McDade’s father, said she found it “insulting that the authors think the public will believe the contorted stories told by officers Newlen and Griffin.”

“This is quite simply another example of the devaluation of a young life in Northwest Pasadena,” she said.

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Follow Joe Piasecki on Twitter: @JoePiasecki.