A number of present and former Pasadena law enforcement officials and supervisors — all of them individuals of colour — suffered assaults, discrimination and retaliation by a pair of division cliques, one in all which is dubbed the Good Ole Boys Membership, in accordance with a collection of lawsuits filed towards the division.
Three allege they have been assaulted by colleagues. Officer Jarvis Shelby mentioned he was positioned in a headlock by a commander in August. Lt. Sam De Sylva mentioned he was kicked so onerous within the leg by one other lieutenant that he wanted surgical procedure. And retired Lt. Carolyn Gordon mentioned she was shot within the groin with a paintball gun throughout coaching, an harm that brought on inner bleeding.
“These are police officers that are supposed to protect the community, but they attack their own,” mentioned Brad Gage, an lawyer representing the six Pasadena officers and former supervisors. 4 have already sued the division, and two others — Gordon and retired Officer Omar Elhosseiny — are planning fits, Gage mentioned.
The allegations solid an additional pall on a division accused of stopping minorities and utilizing lethal power on younger Black males beneath questionable circumstances.
On the crux of the lawsuits are two cop gangs alleged to manage the Pasadena Police Division. One is dubbed the GOBC, or Good Ole Boys Membership, and the opposite is named the Veteranos, which consists of officers who’ve been concerned in a police taking pictures.
These named within the present and pending lawsuits say the police gangs rule the division.
Former Pasadena law enforcement officials Carolyn Gordon and Omar Elhosseiny, proper, recount their experiences with assault and discrimination throughout a information convention with lawyer Brad Gage, left, at police headquarters Thursday.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Instances)
“If there is racism, retaliation and violence within the Police Department, it can certainly bleed over into the community,” mentioned Gordon, a division supervisor who retired in April.
She mentioned she was referred to as a crybaby after being shot throughout a coaching train in 1998. “Sometimes in this building, I feared for my safety,” mentioned Gordon, standing outdoors police headquarters at a information convention Thursday.
Elhosseiny, a retired officer who was awarded the division’s Medal of Braveness, mentioned that final 12 months, when he reported three officers for ingesting on responsibility, he was mocked.
“I was called ‘Taliban,’ ” mentioned Elhosseiny, who’s Muslim. “I was told to park my car facing Mecca.”
The collection of lawsuits towards the Pasadena Police Division started final 12 months and garnered public consideration when Officer Taisyn Crutchfield alleged that she was wrongfully punished for making an attempt to de-escalate a state of affairs with one other officer and a girl being detained.
Within the lawsuit, Crutchfield, 27, alleges she was punished after a state of affairs on Feb. 20, 2023, by which extra officers have been referred to as to an argument involving the 2 sons of Charles Cities, a Black man who was shot and killed by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in Altadena in January.
Clockwise from high left: Pasadena Officer Omar Elhosseiny, Officer Jarvis Shelby, retired Lt. Carolyn Gordon, Sgt. Milton White, Lt. Sam De Sylva and Officer Taisyn Crutchfield.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Instances)
Crutchfield’s lawyer mentioned that police have been referred to as to the scene when one in all Cities’ sons, a juvenile, was “understandably upset by the death of their father.”
The incident was captured on physique digital camera video and exhibits her touching Officer Ralph Palacios’ arm after which his shoulder in what she characterised as an effort to de-escalate a state of affairs by which he was arguing with a Black girl who was being detained. Palacios informed her, “No, you don’t do that,” after which pushed her arm away and informed her to get out of his face. A supervisor then directed the officers to maneuver away from one another.
Crutchfield was positioned on administrative depart with pay after the incident. Within the aftermath, she mentioned, officers retaliated towards her by not answering her name for backup when responding to a person with a gun.
In her lawsuit, Crutchfield additionally alleged that whereas she was in coaching, Officer Al Garcia requested that she be washed out and fired from the division. As soon as on patrol, she was subjected to derogatory racial feedback and left with out backup, in accordance with her lawsuit.
In one other occasion, Crutchfield was dispatched to a home violence name alone, and Shelby mentioned he responded as backup. The decision brought on him hassle within the division and put a goal on his again, he mentioned in his lawsuit, noting {that a} commanding officer put him in a headlock final fall.
Melvin White, who’s now a sergeant, witnessed the headlock incident and described what he noticed to his superiors, he mentioned in a lawsuit. White mentioned after his report, he turned the topic of retaliation.
Pasadena Chief Gene Harris, nonetheless, mentioned of the incident: “There was no assault or violence perpetrated on or by any member of this police department.”
Harris mentioned in December that “a thorough investigation was conducted and completed before [White’s] claim was filed.”
“I take any complaints of assault or violence seriously, and I will not tolerate an internal culture of assault or violence,” Harris mentioned on the time.
The Pasadena Police Officers Assn., the union that represents rank-and-file officers, referred to as the allegations false. And Pasadena police officers have mentioned they may vigorously defend themselves, including that the division “is proud of its diversity throughout all ranks.” Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo didn’t instantly reply for remark.
Over the last decade, Pasadena has paid out tens of millions of {dollars} in civil lawsuits stemming from deadly police shootings and in-custody deaths of Black males.
In 2021, the town paid $7.5 million to the three younger youngsters of Anthony McClain, a Black man fatally shot as he ran away throughout a 2020 visitors cease. In 2012, police fatally shot Kendrick McDade, one other unarmed Black man, after a 911 caller falsely reported he had a gun.
Instances employees photographer Myung J. Chun contributed to this report.
