Kendrec McDade Shooting: Pasadena City Council Disagrees Over Controversial OIR Report

Tyron Hampton. – File Photo by Terry Miller

Steve Madison. – File Photo by Terry Miller

Tryon Hampton and Steve Madison Duke it Out

By J. Shadé Quintanilla

The Pasadena City Council appeared to be divided over a report by the Office of Independent Review Group (OIR) about a police-involved shooting that took the life of Kendrec McDade, an unarmed black man, in 2012. On Monday, the council held a special joint meeting with the Public Safety Committee to have a discussion about the report and the recommendations made by Robert Miller and Michael Gennaco, the authors of the independent review.

The redacted report, which was recently made public last month, investigated the fatal shooting by police officers in 2012 and the police department’s internal investigation of the incident. It faulted the department for not conducting a proper administrative investigation of the shooting and criticized officers’ tactics. The report also listed 26 recommendations for reform of the department’s policy.

At a six-hour long city council meeting, city council members probed Gennaco and Miller, along with Pasadena Police Chief Philip Sanchez, about what was stated in the report and about the police department’s internal investigation of the incident. The OIR report faulted the department for carrying out an insufficient administrative review, rather than an extensive administrative investigation. Gennaco and Miller noted that the police department should have conducted additional administrative interviews with officers Jeffrey Newlen and Matthew Griffin, which would have included questions about policies and procedures, rather than relying on the criminal investigation interviews to determine whether or not they acted within the department’s policy.

During the meeting, council members also questioned the tactics officers used during the shooting, including the tactic of splitting up and pursuing McDade by foot. Councilmember McAustin, along with others, asked why the involved officers failed to turn on their lights and sirens during their pursuit of McDade.

“I’m not a police officer.  I’m not a lawyer,” she  said. “It just seems to me that if someone is told they have a gun and they’re running, that the first thing you would do is use your lights and siren in an effort to cause them to sort of freeze or recognize that they’re in big trouble.”

The council also divided over the OIR report’s assertions and recommendations. In a questioning of the police chief and the independent reviewers that lasted close to an hour, Councilmember Victor Gordo disagreed with assertions from the report that the department could have conducted a more extensive administrative investigation of the shooting.

“What transpired in this incident is exactly what our policy calls for,” he said. Gordo also criticized Gennaco and Miller for including confidential personnel information in the report, which he claims prolonged the public release of the report and interfered with the city’s intention to be transparent about the case.

Councilmember Tyron Hampton, on the other hand, supported the OIR report’s assertions and recommendations. He stated that the police department should take up all of the report’s recommendations and not just the 19 the department says it will take into consideration. He also criticized Chief Sanchez for not making the right decisions regarding the shooting.

“I do feel that our department needs an independent auditor,” Hampton told Sanchez. “I don’t feel that you have the community’s best interest at heart.”

Later in the meeting, Councilmember Steve Madison took issue with Hampton’s statement, calling it “shameful,” and asked Hampton to reconsider it. “I want to apologize for my colleague saying that because it’s untrue,” Madison said to Sanchez.

Hampton angrily responded to Madison, standing by his statement to the police chief. “I don’t think our police force is bad, but I do not think the police chief made the correct decisions handling this case,” he said. “I don’t think our police chief served our community, nor does anyone in my community.”

The city council made no recommendations as how to proceed with what was suggested by the OIR report, but the city will continue discussing the recommended reforms during future public safety meetings. An additional discussion on the report is not on the agenda for future council meetings.

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