Attorney Files Amended Complaint Against Pasadena PD in McClain Shooting

By Terry Miller

Two separate attorneys are battling for justice in the death of Anthony McClain two months ago.

Attorneys Caree Harper and Michael Carrillo filed independent cases in U.S. District Court earlier this month.

McClain was a passenger in a car that was pulled over by officers in the vicinity of Raymond Avenue and Grandview Street about 8 p.m. on Aug. 15. The 32-year-old was shot at least once in the upper body after he got out of the vehicle and began running from the police. McClain died as a result of the gunshots.

The Pasadena police recently reported that despite the attorneys’ claims that McClain was not armed, McClain’s DNA was found on a gun recovered at the scene.

McClain’s father has filed a suit against the city via attorney Carrillo.

Meanwhile, Harper, who represents other McClain family members, filed an amended federal civil rights suit on Oct. 8 against the City of Pasadena and two of the police officers involved for wrongful death and civil rights violations.

In the amended lawsuit, Harper states “As deadly [Officer Edwin] Dumaguindin chased him, he was pursuing from an embolden position of power cosigned by a local district attorney who has refused to prosecute officers for killing Black men, a police chief who was promoted through the ranks due to his command over a rogue team of S.E.S. officers that served as judges and executioners to the Black community in Northwest Pasadena and finally a general unchecked mentality that PPD officers do not get disciplined for excessive force in Northwest Pasadena.”

The Carrillo suit states that Dumaguindin shot McClain twice in the back “without warning” and “without legal justification.” According to the plaintiff, McClain was shot by Dumaguindin “because he was an African American man” and the officer and unnamed colleagues then participated in a cover-up.

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