(SOURCE: South Pasadena Review)
Written by Will Hoadley-Brill
At the South Pasadena City Council meeting on Wednesday, November 18, the interim City Manager Sean Joyce announced that the city would employ an “experienced independent outside investigator” “upon receipt of several…written complaints that [he] received Monday evening.” The full council meeting can be watched here and the comment from City Manager Joyce begins at minute 51:55. According to Joyce’s comment to the Council, the independent investigator, who was not named during the Council meeting, would “immediately begin objective investigation of each of those complaints.”
This comes after the South Pasadena community members made a public comment calling for an independent investigation of the South Pasadena Police Department and several recorded public comments urging the same action were played at the City Council meeting. The written and reported comments cited several events regarding concerning action by the SPPD including the assaults against Black Lives Matter protesters in July, the assault of a protester on the day of the Vanessa Marquez 2nd Anniversary & Community March, the police action when a South Pasadena resident driving his truck onto the sidewalk on the corner of Fair Oaks and Mission to confront Black Lives Matter protesters, the invitation and publicity of a hate group prayer event on city property, and the lack of action when a minor was assaulted at a pro-Trump protest on November 1.
City Manager Joyce explained that “the findings of the respective investigations will be made public” once they have been completed; however, “no further comments can be made pending the outcome of those pending investigations.” He made it clear that he would be available to Council Members throughout the investigation and that he has “great confidence in the investigator.” He insisted, “we are taking all complaints seriously.”
He concluded his comment by briefly addressing the status of the investigations of the incidents that the public comments cited as evidence of police misconduct to the extent that he is permitted, explaining that he was not able to comment on the status or details of ongoing investigations.
This article represents the views and opinions of the author solely and does not express the opinions of all ARC members.
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