Pasadena Police Chief Sanchez Participates in Public Meetings and Peace March Over Weekend

Pasadena Police Chief Sanchez Participates in Public Meetings and Peace March

By Terry Miller
Saturday was a busy and emotional day for Pasadena with several meetings and a peace march from Villa Parke to Robinson Park to honor the memory of Caesar Chavez.
Pasadena police officers, including chief Phillip Sanchez, participated in the meeting at 9am and then another meeting before he walked hand in hand with the community in an effort to show his department’s commitment to peace andf transparency in the continuing investigations regarding the recent shootings.
On Saturday morning at the New Revelation Baptist Church Chief of Police for Pasadena, Phillip Sanchez provided information to a near capacity crowd of concerned citizens about the March 24 shooting of Kendrec McDade on Sunset Avenue, just north of Orange Grove Boulevard.
The meeting took place near the scene of the officer-involved shooting that Saturday and also was the Church used for the funeral for another man shot by Pasadena police in 2009. Leroy Barnes’ was shot and killed in Feb 2009 in N W Pasadena.
Sanchez defended Matthew Griffin, who the Chief said fired his service weapon at McDade from the window of his patrol car.
Asked if it was normal police procedure, “It’s a tactic,” Sanchez said.
Pasadena police officers Matthew Griffin and Jeffrey Newlen involved in the slaying of Kendrec McDade apparently did not did not turn on the video recorder in their patrol car, Pasadena police Chief Phillip Sanchez said Saturday.
The cameras automatically turn on when officers go into a code 3 situation by activating emergency lights and sirens .
Police cruisers are also equipped with a button to allow officers to start the recording manually, the chief added. “That button was not pushed.”

Two protestors who identified themselves as members of an activist group called “The Campaign to Stop Police Violence” stood outside the meeting Saturday with signs reading, ‘Newlen and Griffin Guilty.’ These individuals later joined in on the peace walk.
Two days after the deadly shooting, police arrested Oscar Carrillo on suspicion manslaughter because he lied about the suspects having weapons when he called 911.
Carillo remains in custody with being charged as of Monday morning April 2. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office was still weighing whether to file a manslaughter charge against Carrillo in connection with the incident.
The District Attorney’s Office is reviewing McDade’s death, and the County of Los Angeles Office of Independent Review has also been asked to investigate as well as a request for independent review by ACLU.
“Rest assured that the level of investigation ensures transparency, it ensures openness,” Sanchez said.
Mayor Bill Bogaard, along with council members Victor Gordo, Jacque Robinson and Chris Holden, also spoke briefly at Saturday’s meeting, expressing their emotions but urged the public to be patient.

Bogaard and the council members joined in asking the community to not jump to any conclusions before the investigations are complete.
The late morning march sponsored by Pasadena’s Centro de Accion Social hosted it’s annual Peace Walk. About 150 marchers, some wearing hoodies to call attention to the shooting of Florida teen Trayvon Martin by an alleged vigilante, walked to Robinson Community Center where a rally took place.

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