Several current and former Pasadena police officers and supervisors — all of whom are people of color — suffered assault, discrimination and retaliation from two department factions, according to a series of lawsuits filed against the Pasadena Police Department. One faction became known as the Good Ole Boys Club.
Three people claimed they were assaulted by colleagues. Officer Jarvis Shelby said a commander put him in a headlock in August. Lt. Sam DeSilva said he was kicked so hard in the leg by another lieutenant that he needed surgery. Retired lieutenant Carolyn Gordon said she was hit in the groin with a paintball gun during training, causing internal bleeding.
“These police officers are supposed to be protecting the community, but instead they are attacking their own community,” said attorney Brad Gage, who represents six Pasadena police officers and a former supervisor. Gage said four people have sued the department and two others — Gordon and retired police officer Omar Elhosseini — are planning to sue.
The charges cast a further shadow over a department accused of stopping minorities and using deadly force against young black men in questionable situations.
The crux of the lawsuit is two police gangs accused of controlling the Pasadena Police Department. One is called the GOBC, or Good Boys Club, and the other is called the Veterans Club, made up of officers involved in police shootings.
People named in current and pending lawsuits say police gangs dominate the department.
Former Pasadena police officers Carolyn Gordon and Omar Elhosseini (right) speak during a news conference Thursday at police headquarters with attorney Brad Gage (left) Experiences of assault and discrimination.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
“If there’s racism and retaliation and violence within the police department, it’s bound to spill over into the community,” said Gordon, who retired as police chief in April.
She said she was called a “crybaby” after being shot during a training exercise in 1998. “There are times in this building where I fear for my safety,” Gordon said at a news conference Thursday while standing outside police headquarters.
El Hosseini, a retired officer who was awarded the department’s Medal of Valor, said he was ridiculed last year when he reported three officers for drinking while on duty.
“I was called ‘Taliban,'” said El Hosseini, a Muslim. “I was told to park opposite Mecca.”
A series of lawsuits against the Pasadena Police Department began last year and came to public attention when Officer Tessin Crutchfield claimed she was killed for trying to de-escalate a situation between another officer and a woman who was being detained. Being punished wrongly.
In the lawsuit, Crutchfield, 27, claims she was punished during an incident on Feb. 20, 2023, when extra police were called in to deal with an incident involving Charles Towns’ two sons. of Charles Towns, a black man shot to death in Los Angeles in January, by an Altadena County Sheriff’s deputy.
Clockwise from top left: Pasadena Police Officer Omar Elhosseini, Officer Jarvis Shelby, retired Lt. Carolyn Gordon, Sgt. Milton White, Lt. Sam DeSilva and Officer Tyson Crutchfield.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Crutchfield’s attorney said police were called to the scene when one of Downs’ teenage sons “was understandably upset about his father’s death.”
The incident was captured on body camera footage, which shows her touching Officer Ralph Palacios’ arm and then his shoulder in what she says was an attempt to de-escalate an argument between him and a black woman who was being detained. . Palacios told her, “No, you can’t do that,” and pushed her arms away from his face. A supervisor then directed the officers to stay away from each other.
Crutchfield was placed on paid administrative leave following the incident. She said police retaliated against her after the incident and failed to respond to her calls for support while responding to a man with a gun.
Crutchfield also claims in the lawsuit that while she was undergoing training, Officer Al Garcia asked that she be fired and fired from the department. Once on patrol, she was subjected to racially degrading remarks and left without backup, according to her lawsuit.
On another occasion, Crutchfield was assigned to respond to a domestic violence call alone, and Shelby said he responded as backup. He said in the lawsuit that the call got him into trouble within the department and got him into trouble, noting that a commander put him in a headlock last fall.
Melvin White, now a sergeant, said in the lawsuit that he witnessed the headlock incident and described what he saw to his superiors. White said he was the target of retaliation after his report.
However, Pasadena Police Chief Gene Harris said of the incident: “There was no assault or violence against any member of this department or any member of this department.”
Harris said in December that “a thorough investigation has been conducted and completed” [White’s] Claim filed.
“I take any complaints of assault or violence seriously and I will not tolerate an internal culture of assault or violence,” Harris said at the time.
The Pasadena Police Officers Association, which represents rank-and-file officers, called the accusations untrue. Pasadena police officials said they will defend themselves vigorously, adding that the department is “proud of its diversity at every level.” Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo did not immediately respond for comment.
Over the past decade, Pasadena has paid out millions of dollars in civil lawsuits stemming from police shootings and the in-custody deaths of black men.
In 2021, the city paid $7.5 million to the three young children of Anthony McClain, a Black man who was shot and killed while running from a traffic stop in 2020. In 2012, another unarmed black man, Kendrick McDade, was shot and killed by police after a 911 caller falsely claimed he had a gun.
Times staff photographer Myung J. Chun contributed to this report.
