Video of Police Chief’s McDade Shooting Deposition is Leaked

[Upfated Friday, Nov. 15, 2013]  A 23-minute video of Pasadena Chief of Police Phillip Sanchez being deposed in connection with the shooting of Kendrec McDade in 2012 by Pasadena police officers has been posted on YouTube.

The partial deposition video, posted on Tuesday, November 12, shows Sanchez being questioned by civil rights attorney Caree Harper.

McDade was a 19-year-old black college who was unarmed at the time he was shot and killed. Harper is a lawyer for McDade’s family.

In the portion of the video posted, Sanchez acknowledged his involvement in five officer-involved shootings when he was a police officer in Santa Monica and also said that he believes that Public Safety Committee’s oversight of the Pasadena Police Dept. is a sufficient mechanism to assure the public the Department is properly monitored, according to the video.

The video starts with Harper asking Sanchez if he can still be objective in judging whether the actions of his officers fall under the policy of the Pasadena Police Department if Sanchez himself was involved in several officer-involved shootings.

“Do you feel that since you’re involved in five shootings, couple of which were waistband shootings, that you could possibly be objective anyway?” Harper asked.

Sanchez answered “yes.”

When Harper then asked if Sanchez should have excused himself from being the one to determine his inferior’s actions provided his involvement in past waistband shootings, Sanchez answered “No, ma’am.”

The lawyer also asked if it would have been more “prudent” to have someone other than Sanchez determine “whether or not the officers were within policy when they shot and killed Kendrec McDade?”

“Why not gather a panel, maybe a couple of people who hadn’t been involved in waistband shootings themselves?” asked Harper.

“It’s not the policy or practice or procedure in the Pasadena Police Department,” Sanchez said. “I’m saying that the Pasadena [Public] Safety Committee exists and they’re civilians and they provide oversight.”

When asked if he believes the Pasadena Safety Committee is enough to provide police oversight, Sanchez said he “believes so.”