Pasadena cops beat citizen in front of his children



PASADENA Civil rights attorney Andrew Stein has filed a claim for $5 million against the city and the Police Department accusing two officers of brutality and racial discrimination against a Middle Eastern man when they arrested him at his Pasadena home in March.
Hesham Maher Gabor was arrested on March 17 in the 1000 block of South Marengo Avenue and charged with one misdemeanor count of child endangerment and one felony count of resisting an executive officer filed by the District Attorney’s Office.
Stein, who has leveled a number of other police misconduct allegations against the city in the past, said the charges and the conduct of the arresting officers, Officer Eric Butler and Cpl. Jayce Ward, were out of line.
“This should be, in my opinion, the case that rips the lid off the entire Police Department,” Stein said. “This is an upper middle class gentleman with no history of criminal violence, no gang activity, no nothing, who in his own home was assaulted and beaten by police unjustifiably.”
Stein said two officers entered Gabor’s house without permission, beat him and shocked him with a stun gun in front of his two children. Stein said Gabor also owns a home in South Pasadena and works as an engineer.
Police spokeswoman Tracey Ibarra said the officers entered Gabor’s house after one of them was flagged down by a neighbor who found Gabor’s 10-year-old son crying outside the door to the house.
Ibarra said Gabor’s other son, who is 7, opened the door for the officer and went to get his father. After the officers told Gabor he was under arrest for child endangerment, Ibarra said, he resisted arrest.
“Ultimately a struggle ensued, the officers had to overcome his resistance because he was uncooperative, but ultimately they handcuffed him,” Ibarra said, adding that the officers were also injured during the incident. “There was no excessive force used in this situation,” she said.
Ibarra said an administrative review, which is customary for all instances where officers use force, determined that the officers’ actions were “reasonable and necessary under the circumstances and within policy.”
Gabor did not file an internal affairs complaint, Ibarra added, and the officers were never placed on administrative leave.
But Stein, who filed a claim letter with the city on Aug. 20, said Gabor’s son was outside the house because of a misunderstanding with Gabor’s wife. He said Gabor was trying to ask the officer to close the door because he has allergies but instead of listening the officer “started to beat him up and choked him right in front of the kids.”
Councilwoman Jacque Robinson, who is chairwoman of the Public Safety Committee, and her fellow committee member John Kennedy both said they had not heard about the case.
Stein said after all the cases he has brought against the Police Department, Gabor’s is a “dream case” and he plans to fight it out in court.
“Police officers think they can do whatever they want,” Stein said. “There will be no settlement. We are going to air the dirty laundry of the Pasadena Police Department.”

Gabor is scheduled for a preliminary hearing for the criminal charges on Monday in Pasadena Superior Court.