Contradictions Between Ballew-Beating Police Reports and Incident Videos?

Editor’s Note: Below is a letter sent to us by the office of attorney Dale Gronemeier.

Screen grab of a bystander’s footage of Christopher Ballew’s arrest by Pasadena Police on Nov. 9, 2017 (Photo – YouTube).

The police reports written by the Pasadena Police Department officers on the Christopher Ballew beating were released today (see below) and show significant conflicts between the incident videos and the officers’ reports.

Ballew was beaten by Pasadena PD officers Lerry Esparza and Zachary Lujan on November 9 in what has been referred to as “Pasadena’s Rodney King moment.” A month after the beating, a bystander video of the event surfaced, leading the City to release the officers’ bodycam and carcam videos. The videos have gone viral and been viewed by millions nationally and internationally.

The officers’ contemporaneous police reports were released today by civil rights attorney Dale Gronemeier after he obtained them from Ballew’s attorneys; the reports were part of the City’s pre-trial discovery provided to Ballew’s attorneys. In Ballew’s complaint in his lawsuit alleging a federal civil rights violation for excessive use of force, Ballew’s attorneys quote multiple statements by both officers and the conflicting evidence in the videos, including the following by officer Esparza:

• ‘“The vehicle yielded to our emergency lights.”
  False. Mr. Ballew pulled into the gas station, parked, and exited before the forward facing red light was activated.
• “Upon this detention [for ‘Window tint’] S/Ballew attempted to walk away from his vehicle.”
  False. Mr. Ballew walked from his car to the cashier before he was detained. He stopped when spoken to by Officer Esparza.
• ‘“I told Ballew to get back inside his car.”
  False. Officer Esparza gave no commands. ‘
• “Ballew responded by saying that he wasn’t driving the car. . . . I believed Ballew was involved in some type of criminal activity as he was trying to distance himself from the vehicle.”
  Misleading. Mr. Ballew said he was not driving “my car” when Officer Esparza said he was getting “pulled over.”
• ‘“As we got back to the car, Ballew flailed his left elbow at me, nearly striking me in the face.”
  False. …Officer Esparza pushed Mr. Ballew against his car, suddenly twisting his left arm, causing Mr. Ballew to wince in pain and spontaneously turn counterclockwise to relieve the pressure. Officer Esparza had both hands controlling Mr. Ballew’s left arm, and was not in any danger of being hit with it.
• ‘“We ordered Ballew to give us his hands and to separate his feet; however, he was uncooperative and abruptly dropped to the ground unprovoked.”
  False. Both officers kicked Mr. Ballew’s feet apart, knocking him to the ground.
• “Ballew was actively trying to take my baton from me in an obvious attempt to violently assault Officer Lujan and I.”
  False. Mr. Ballew was holding the baton so that he would not get struck again.
• “I saw Ballew slap at Officer Lujan’s face.”
  False. Officer Lujan was screaming for Mr. Ballew’s hands while hitting him. In response, Mr. Ballew held one hand in front of Officer Lujan’s face and said, “My hand is right here!”

A frequent critic of the Pasadena PD, Gronemeier today said:

Both of the officers’ police reports say they were allowed to view the bodycam and carcam videos before completing their reports. Each report also cross-references the other’s report, so they were allowed to coordinate their stories. But even viewing the videos and trying to coordinate their stories, they couldn’t get their stories and the videos consistent. For example, officer Esparza claims he was ‘unable to safely activate’ his bodycam because he ‘feared that [Ballew] was going to flee from me based on his nervous and argumentative behavior.’ The carcam videos shows the opposite of what officer Esparza describes. The carcam videos first show Mr. Ballew at :59 exiting his car. He calmly walks with a normal gait for 9 seconds towards the gas station entrance. At 1:08, officer Esparza makes a hand-gesture from 10-12 feet away, and Mr. Ballew slows down. At 1:10, Mr. Ballew stops when officer Esparza is about 4 feet away. At 1:13, officer Esparza is next to Mr. Ballew and gestures towards the car; at 1:14, he puts Mr. Ballew in a force-hold. At no time during that 15 second period did Mr. Ballew act in any way as though he were going to flee, nor was there anything showing that he was ‘argumentative and nervous.’ Officer Esparza’s justification for not turning on his bodycam – which is also part of his justification for the initial detention of Mr. Ballew by a force-hold – is a false excuse. His excuse for pointing his pistol at Mr. Ballew intending to shoot him – because he allegedly feared Mr. Ballew would use the baton as a deadly weapon– is equally false. His excuse that he broke Mr. Ballew’s fibula –because he saw Mr. Ballew try to “slap” officer – is also inconsistent with the carcam videos. The videos show that the officers lied in their police reports to cover up their unlawful detention and unjustified use of force.

> Attachments (hover on documents to scroll through pages).

(1) Officers Esparza’s and Lujan’s police reports:

(2) Ballew’s Second Amended Complaint: