Witness: Man hit by Pasadena police was not resisting

[peejay 327]

Witness: Man hit by Pasadena police was not resisting

Pasadena PD says he fought officers; he later died in a jail cell

By ROBERT CROWE

2007 Houston Chronicle

A man repeatedly hit by two Pasadena police officers before he died Saturday did not appear to be struggling or resisting arrest, according to a woman who said she witnessed the incident.

Evelyn D. Moreno told Pasadena Police Department's internal affairs investigators Thursday that she was driving home about 2 a.m. when she noticed the officers standing above a man lying on the ground at a business as she approached the 1300 block of East Harris Avenue.

"I stopped and saw he was just laying there, on the floor, flat on his back, and the cops were just punching him," Moreno, 20, told the Houston Chronicle on Thursday after she gave a statement to police. "You can tell when someone's struggling, but he wasn't putting up a fight."

About six hours later, 51-year-old Pedro Gonzales Jr. was found dead in a jail cell. Preliminary autopsy results show he died from a punctured lung related to a fractured rib.

Pasadena Police Capt. Bud Corbett said the officers' account of the incident, given in the arrest report, indicates Gonzales resisted arrest for public intoxication.

"The context in which physical force was used on this person was for the purpose of overcoming resistance to arrest," Corbett said Thursday.

Moreno insists that she watched for two minutes as the officers hit the man repeatedly as he lay motionless on the ground. She was driving home from her in-laws' house while her husband watched the scene unfold while he sat in the passenger seat.

Their car was many feet away from the scene, but the officers were standing beneath a streetlight at Galindo's Auto Service. Moreno said she drove away after an officer noticed her car and then began approaching. The scene troubled her so much that she stopped at a nearby pay phone and called 911, to no avail.

"The dispatcher said there's nothing they could do, and that police were just doing their job," Moreno said. "But I said they were beating him while he's lying flat on the floor. But the person said, 'There's nothing I can do.' She said I should call police."

He was treated at jail

Pasadena police officials on Thursday confirmed Moreno made an emergency call near the time of the incident. A police report does not indicate an ambulance was dispatched to the scene before officers took Gonzales to the Pasadena City Jail, where he was found dead in a holding cell at about 7:30 a.m.

Paramedics treated him at the jail after he complained of injuries, but he refused further treatment and was placed in a cell before he died, Corbett said.

Moreno said she made a point to remember that she made the emergency call at about 2:20 a.m. "because I wanted to remember just in case something else happened."

She said she learned that Gonzales had died after a family friend who read about the incident in a newspaper article Wednesday told her husband.

"We don't read the paper, but someone told us about how this thing happened on East Harris, and we were like, 'Wait, was that Saturday?' " she said.

Pasadena police officials stated Monday that Gonzales was possibly injured about 2 a.m. when he tripped and fell in a parking lot as police officers escorted him to a patrol car while arresting him for public intoxication.

Police also said Monday that preliminary autopsy results indicated a "pinhole" perforation to a lung caused by a bone splinter from a rib fracture likely caused Gonzales' death. Medical Examiner investigators declined to comment Thursday, citing a pending autopsy.

Officers saw him in pickup

Officers Christopher S. Jones, 29, and Jason W. Buckaloo, 33, were patrolling Harris Avenue about 2 a.m. when they noticed Gonzales in the back of a pickup outside a business, Corbett said.

When the officers determined that Gonzales was drunk, they attempted to arrest him for public intoxication. But he resisted, Corbett said, adding that the officers forcibly took him into custody.

After the Chronicle asked police on Tuesday to explain how he could have sustained multiple injuries by tripping, Capt. Corbett said Gonzales got some injuries during a struggle with Jones and Buckaloo.

The incident report released Thursday was written by Jones, who joined the department earlier this year.

In the report, Jones states Gonzales, whom he refers to as "Pete," had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech before he resisted arrest.

"Pete was pulled to the ground and he began kicking, striking Officer Buckaloo several times in the legs ... We administered several knee strikes and elbow strikes to Pete's back and thighs and ordered him to stop resisting ... At no time did Pete obey any of the orders given to him by Officer Buckaloo or I," Jones stated.

Arrested 10 times

Records show Gonzales had been arrested for public intoxication 10 times between February 2000 and Saturday. Three arrests included criminal mischief, burglary of a motor vehicle and burglary of a building. On Saturday, before his death, he was charged with resisting arrest, assault on a police officer and public intoxication.

According to Buckaloo's personnel file, the officer has been on the force since 2000. He worked in a series of retail jobs before becoming an officer. Records show he generally received above average and average ratings in employee reviews, but a review from 2002 indicates that he had been temporarily reassigned to dispatch pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation. The file does not indicate what prompted the investigation.

According to Jones' personnel file, he worked in loss prevention at a Chandler, Ariz., Best Buy for about six months before applying to Pasadena PD in January.

Before that, he worked as an officer at Grandview Police Department in Grandview, Mo., between April 2002 and July 2006. He was a security guard in a Grandview neighborhood in 2005 and 2006.

In January 2002 he was a Las Vegas Police Department academy recruit before he worked as a Platte City, Mo., deputy sheriff between 2000 and 2001.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5004303.html

[Nagishkaw 510]

Wow, that's messed up!

[JoeMama 0]

L.A.P.D. is at it again. We wouldn't expect anything less would we?

[peejay 327]

L.A.P.D. is at it again. We wouldn't expect anything less would we?

Wrong Pasadena. This story took place in Pasadena, TX instead of Pasedena, CA. This is the town where the John Travolta and Debra Winger movie URBAN COWBOY was filmed at Gilley's Club in the 1980's. The demographics have changed quite a lot in 20+ years. Instead of mostly White hillbillies residing in Pasadena it is now mostly foreign born Hispanics (many of them illegal). The hillbillies have fled.

[Nagishkaw 510]

Maybe they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly . Hills , that is, swimming pools, movie stars.

[peejay 327]

Maybe they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly . Hills , that is, swimming pools, movie stars.

Look at the demographics of California...the hillbillies are fleeing there too.

[Nagishkaw 510]

Could be they ran out of cousins, and they couldn't get good reception in the chicken koop to tune in to the WWF?

>>> self.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

L.A.P.D. is at it again. We wouldn't expect anything less would we?

Wrong Pasadena. This story took place in Pasadena, TX instead of Pasedena, CA. This is the town where the John Travolta and Debra Winger movie URBAN COWBOY was filmed at Gilley's Club in the 1980's. The demographics have changed quite a lot in 20+ years. Instead of mostly White hillbillies residing in Pasadena it is now mostly foreign born Hispanics (many of them illegal). The hillbillies have fled.

That explains it--I guessed it from the fact of the article being from the Houston Chronicle (which would be highly unlikely to report local incidents from either the MD or CA--or any other outside of TX--Pasadena).

[JoeMama 0]

I was speed reading today missed the TX part. It's so common to turn on the news here and see or hear about the LAPD highlighted on beating the shitt out of someone. It's just another day in California. Thanks for pointing it out to me Peejay

[trueimage 0]

Could be they ran out of cousins, and they couldn't get good reception in the chicken koop to tune in to the WWF?

>>> self.

Awwww...Nagi! That's sooo wrong! LOL Not all us hicks watch WWF!!!!!!!

[JoeMama 0]

Come on people! You're not true hicks! It's the WWE!

[Nagishkaw 510]

Could be they ran out of cousins, and they couldn't get good reception in the chicken koop to tune in to the WWF?

>>> self.

Awwww...Nagi! That's sooo wrong! LOL Not all us hicks watch WWF!!!!!!!

You know I was saying that in jest. The truth be known, I love chickens.

[trueimage 0]

Could be they ran out of cousins, and they couldn't get good reception in the chicken koop to tune in to the WWF?

>>> self.

Awwww...Nagi! That's sooo wrong! LOL Not all us hicks watch WWF!!!!!!!

You know I was saying that in jest. The truth be known, I love chickens.

Fried...............yup yup yup

[Nagishkaw 510]

[trueimage 0]

Preferrably dark meat................ deep fried and greasy