Double trouble
City quietly settles six-year-old brutality case as one of the parties in El Sereno 3 case faces another assault charge
By André Coleman 11/19/2009
A former Pasadena foster youth who was tried in relation to a violent melee with police six years ago — resulting last week in a secret out-of-court settlement with the city —faces more criminal charges this week, this time involving another alleged felony assault.
Michael Miller, who was 17 when he and two other teens — later known as The El Sereno 3 — were confronted in October 2003 by six officers near the corner of El Sereno Avenue and Fair Oaks Drive, is currently being held in the LA County Jail on $50,000 bail, charged with felony battery stemming from a September incident in Pasadena. A pretrial hearing in that case was set for this week, said District Attorney spokesperson Sandi Gibbons.
The terms of the settlement, stemming from a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of Miller, who is now 23 and lives in Pasadena, and his foster mother, Linda Jordan, were not known; both sides are bound to secrecy. Jordan, who was also raising the two other foster teens involved in the incident — Carlton Crayton and James Patton, both then 18 at the time — could not be reached for comment on the arrest.
Among other things, the lawsuit filed by attorney Caree Harper alleged officers used excessive force, violated the civil rights of Miller and his foster mom, committed assault and battery and inflicted emotional distress on the woman and her ward.
Named in the civil suit were the city, the Police Department, Sgt. Mark Goodman and Officers Keith Gomez, Christopher Kirby, Joseph Reinbold, Grant Curry and Kyle Ballard.
The three teens claimed they were victims of brutality. The officers, however, claimed they were the ones brutalized and that they only used force to protect themselves from the three teenagers.
Miller, being 17, was sent to Juvenile Court, where the charges were dismissed. Patton was detained but released without charges. Crayton pleaded no contest to lesser charges and also received probation and community service. Originally, all three youths were charged with attempted murder, among other serious felonies.
“The ultimate goal was to keep the young men out of jail and prison for ‘attempted murder on an officer,’” as was initially charged, said Harper.
The other goal, Harper said, was to expose the department’s use of so-called “Black Gang Enforcement Teams,” something police officials maintained they never did.
Attorney and family friend Philip Koebel — who coached Miller and Crayton in an afterschool basketball program — said that despite the settlement, the department probably won’t change the way it does business.
“The experience that they went through can’t really be compensated,” Koebel said of Miller, Crayton and Patton. “I am pleased that this is over, but the problem with many settlements is they are confidential and it is hard to generate teaching moments from them. … My prayer is the city would use it that way. My fear is the department and the city view it as a cutting of losses and they are not really accepting responsibility for their losses.”
Police reports by officers in 2003 varied in their accounts of the altercation.
Residents living nearby, however, were unified in their contention that the teens were attacked.
“It was like a Rodney King kind of thing,” Vera Dice told the Weekly back in 2003. “I’ve never seen anything this drastic in the street.”
In a 9-1-1 call, Barbara Donald said: “I think [the officers] just drove by and wanted to go over and harass them and when the boys told them ‘Hey leave us alone,’ then that started the ruckus with the police,” according to the lawsuit.
Donald also said that when paramedics arrived, “the police picked up the boy [Miller], bleeding and handcuffed, and threw him in the backseat of a police car.” The dispatcher took Donald’s name, but, according to court documents, no one from the department contacted her or took her statement.
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I believe all charges were again dismissed against Mr. Miller, but memories are long in Pasadena. It's always advisable to move out of the City you sue; remaining a resident is like you remain a big bird with radar.