PPD & City Officials Meet With Media Regarding Recent Lawsuit

– Courtesy photo / Phillip Sanchez

Motorist alleges false arrest; excessive use of force; but refused to comply with officers’ numerous commands

By Terry Miller

Pasadena Chief of Police Phillip Sanchez, City Attorney and several other high-ranking officials, including City Manager Steve Mermell, coordinated a meeting for local media at the Pasadena Police headquarters to discuss a recent lawsuit filed by a motorist against the police department.

Pasadena -while no stranger to such lawsuits – is not alone with complaints filed on behalf of individuals, who believe they are victims of blunt or excessive force.  Warranted or not, these cases put extra scrutiny from the public on the police and support staff and strain the already embattled departments.

Determined to be transparent with the advent of body won cameras, Sanchez invited Pasadena Independent,  and a handful of other local media, to hear the 911  audio recording of the incident in question, as well as show the police videos recorded by the officers’ cars and body worn cameras that 2017 arrest and  subsequent incarceration of Kelvin Jenkins at Pasadena jail.

The Jan. 20 suit filed on behalf of Kelvin Jankins, 27, alleges the police falsely arrested Jankins with unreasonable search and seizure; officers and city jailers assaulted and subjected Jankins to excessive force.

The suit also claims that Jankins’ head was hit against a police patrol car twice and that jailers slammed him onto the ground in the holding cell.

Jankins was taken into custody for resisting arrest and a vehicle code violation about 10 p.m. on January 20, 2017, after a traffic stop on Navarro Avenue, just South of Howard Street.

Police Chief Phillip Sanchez and City Prosecutor Michael Dowd described in detail what the media was witnessing during the one-hour private meeting.

While we were not allowed to record or film the meeting, Sanchez reminded reporters of the public safety atmosphere in January 2017. Less than two weeks before the Jankins traffic stop, there was numerous shootings in NW Pasadena, most of which were gang-related and three deaths ensued.

Taking that into context, officers were on high alert in Pasadena and when a suspect refuses to get out of his vehicle when pulled over, naturally officers call for back-up.

In the videos we reviewed last week regarding the Jankins incident, police officers appeared to act very professionally.  Conversely, to this reporter’s eyes, Jankins appeared generally combative and repeatedly shouted expletives at the officers in addition to saying he’d sue the department.

Jankins refused multiple times to comply with officers’ demands to initially get out of the car.  The suspect called 9-1-1 and alerted dispatch that he was not getting out of the car, but when he finally did, he appeared to be filming the officers arresting him with his cell-phone.

Once in custody, Jankins was taken to Huntington Hospital complaining of pain, but then refused medical treatment at the hospital.

The private meeting held for the meeting regarding this incident was unprecedented and a good sign that the PPD want to be more transparent with media, particularly in the wake of incidents like the recent Chris Ballew beating that garnered national attention.

Numerous calls and emails to Kelvin Jankins’ attorney for comment on this story were not immediately returned.

More from News