We expect that as police officers, our members should be treated like any other citizen considered innocent until proven guilty, the union said in a statement. When the motorists asked why they were stopped, they claimed that officers would reply, We do a routine check on new faces in town.. And its not new., De Ladurantey flatly denies that his officers pull over motorists because of the color of their skin, but acknowledges that part of a police officers job is to sense deviation. Share & Bookmark, Press Enter to show all options, press Tab go to next option, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), Consolidated Plan: HOME, HOME-American Rescue Plan (HOME-ARP), Candidate Registration & Qualification Form, Torrance Police Department Quarterly Reports, Trust Building Campaign - Torrance Police Department Strategic Plan, Property Release from stored/impounded vehicle. One year later, Tomsic was one of several officers involved in a deadly altercation with Deautry Ross in the Del Amo Fashion Center, according to district attorneys records. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not. Another picture he sent referred to an African American baby as a Pet Niguana, according to the records, and he also sent a message mocking the fact that he was the subject of a racial profiling complaint. The officers were responding to calls from a mall employee who said Ross was walking through the building with a knife, muttering to himself. Dunn also received a text message from Weldin apologizing for the damage, the affidavit said. GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. . A survey of records at Police Watch, a nonprofit Los Angeles group that monitors Southern California police agencies, revealed numerous complaints by minorities alleging that they were pulled over by Torrance police for no reason. A lot of times people complain about the lack of local control and how other decision makers far removed are trying to call the shots, Armour said. When Gascn charged Officer David Chandler with assault in late August for allegedly shooting an armed man in the back, sources told The Times that Chandler was also under investigation as part of the scandal. Changes need to be made in the Torrance Police Department, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said this week in announcing an independent investigation into the text messages. 3. The sum was upped to $9 million by a judge and the case finally was settled for $6.5 million. Collecting this information is very important to our research, so we would like to emphasize, if you have questions about my request or suggestions, we would be happy to discuss them with you. Additional officers received the texts but did not interact with them in any way, so they are not considered under investigation, those sources said. TheCalifornia Public Records Actis a series of laws meant to guarantee that the public has access to public records of governmental bodies in California. A knife was recovered at the scene. WebIt is hereby declared to be the policy of the City to prohibit unnecessary, excessive and annoying noises from all sources subject to its police power. Sometimes youve got to do things your own damn self, Kawamoto replied, later adding a comment that he wanted to always make Torrance great again, a reference to former President Trumps ubiquitous political slogan. That number did not include Tomsic, Weldin, or Schroeder, he said. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, New: California Attorney General to investigate Torrance Police after racist text scandal, Ex-Torrance police officers charged with spray-painting swastika on car, How the theft of 44 firearms from an L.A. gun store exploded into an LAPD scandal. In both cases, plaintiffs alleged that the officers leveled guns at their heads, tore apart their vehicles with no probable cause and without permission, intentionally and painfully yanked their testicles during body searches and made numerous racist threats. In 1988, two Torrance police officers were caught on video choking and clubbing Thomas Tice, 20, at a Sunday afternoon party. The car owner arrived two days later to pick up his Hyundai at the yard and found the back bumper was spray painted white, a side mirror also was painted and a swastika and smiley face were drawn on the upholstered seats. California Atty. According to the district attorneys records reviewed by The Times, Schroeder sent one message in the texts reading No Jews, No Blacks, and made racist remarks about a child eating a watermelon. From what I can tell . Kawamoto also referred to Black men as savages in the texts, according to district attorneys records reviewed by The Times. Judge Amy Carter will decide whether to suppress evidence from the personal cellphones of ex-officers Corey Weldin and Christopher Tomsic. Gascn has already publicly identified two of the men involved in the scandal as former Officers Cody Weldin and Christopher Tomsic, who were charged in August with conspiracy and vandalism for allegedly spray-painting a swastika inside a vehicle. The Rastello familys attorneys, Browne Greene and Brian Panish of Santa Monica, had alleged that fellow officers protected Green by not testing his blood-alcohol level, altering witness statements and using one of the departments few untapped phone lines to report the accident to commanders. If I were a citizen, youre damned right Id want people stopped . . The Times did not independently view documentation of racist text messages sent by any of those four officers, though the newspaper did review a document that showed Concannon sent messages that are part of the investigation. oil spill, Column: Column: Hydrogen cars should be a bigger part of Californias battle against carbon emissions, Sikh motorcyclist joins a cross-country ride against hate: I have to do this, How to connect formerly incarcerated people with jobs in L.A. County. Which of the above data are published publicly? 3300 Civic Center Drive, Torrance, CA 90503. So, I started asking if we had checked for text messages.. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires. Its one of the most exhaustive reviews that one could ever do in the state of California, and its a very important step for us, he added. Civil rights activists and police watchdog groups claim that the department is among the most Concannon, Chavez and fellow Torrance Police Officers Andrew Kissinger and Enrique Villegas are also under investigation as part of the scandal, according to three people with direct knowledge of the case and a review of district attorneys records. Animal Control: 310-618-3850. 3300 Civic Center Dr. Usually, conversations always seemed to circle back to vile insults or depictions of violence against Black people. Two years later, the city agreed to pay $1.9 million to a construction worker shot in the neck by an officer during a 1988 traffic stop, and $1.1 million to a Carson man who claimed that officers broke his neck with a billy club. And De Ladurantey said complaints and litigation are an inherent part of modern policing--even in suburban Torrance. The department would not comment on citizen complaints against police beyond saying that it investigated 34 of them in 1993, sustaining 23. Good job sticking to the script, he wrote. After a grueling six-week trial, a jury awarded the family of a young motorcyclist $5.9 million after he was struck and killed by an off-duty sergeant who had been drinking. California Atty. Torrance recorded fewer violent crimes in 1993 than many neighboring cities of comparable size, according to the FBI. Our members have a right to due process and should be protected from illegal and unnecessary intrusion into their private lives.. When the jury returned with its massive award to the Rastello family, it said the department had a pattern and practice of whitewashing incidents of officer misconduct. Sgt. If your department logs complaints in a database, spreadsheet, or other log, a copy of those logs is fine instead. In Torrance, the Police and Fire Departments costs make up 65% of the citys general fund budget. things have not changed, said Tim Rastello, brother of the motorcyclist and a Denver civil rights attorney. What they found has resulted in a black eye for the Torrance Police Department. Rob Bonta said Wednesday his office will investigate the department in the wake of the scandal. We are aggressive, and sometimes we get some lawsuits, he said. The city indicated the forms previously only available at the Police Department can now be found in the City Clerks Office and City Hall lobby as well. Providing the complainant a copy of their own statement at the time a complaint is filed. In some of those cases, the plaintiffs are members of the same ethnic groups the officers espoused hatred for in the texts. Former Daily Breeze reporter and columnist Nick Green retired in 2021 after more than two decades with the newspaper covering Torrance, Lomita, Carson, the Palos Verdes Peninsula, soccer and the craft beer industry. Web47 6 thatphanom.techno@gmail.com 042-532028 , 042-532027 The most controversial incident involving officers linked to the racist text scandal is the 2018 shooting death of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell. We the Peoplehave aRight to Knowaccording to the Supreme Court of the United States [SCOTUS], past Presidents (of both major political parties), Congress, and the United States Department of Justice. for the Advancement of Colored People. Beverly Hills attorney Howard Price, who represented many of the plaintiffs in the lawsuits, said Friday that the nature of the phone texts made it appear that racism was ingrained in the department. Still, in the span of one week in November, the Los Angeles County public defenders office received about 300 letters from prosecutors disclosing potential misconduct by officers implicated in the scandal, said Judith Green, an office spokeswoman. I am in receipt of your request and I am attempting to locate the information requested and will attempt to have it to you as soon as possible. Attorneys for the former officers contend the phones were obtained through a search warrant that was overly broad and violates Californias digital privacy law. We are located at: 3300 Civic Center Dr. Torrance, CA 90503, 3031 Torrance Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503 | P: (310) 328-5310 | Contact | Login. That department is infected with the disease of denial . Learn more. Some critics say the citys most recent vote against a survey is a show of the councils unwillingness to address the concerns of the Torrance community. The grand jury also said that the Torrance warning regarding the civil suit that could be filed if a false report is submitted was found to be unconstitutional in 1999 because of its chilling effect and the court ruling has been upheld on several occasions since then. Additionally, they say, investigators allegedly reviewed confidential attorney-client messages on the phones as well as the officers medical information. Those people spoke on the condition of anonymity so they could candidly discuss an ongoing investigation. The governments current inquiry into allegations of racial harassment of the public is simply an effort to bolster its discriminatory hiring case against Torrance, one Justice Department official said. Armour said its unlikely that misconduct reminiscent of the TPD texting scandal would ever make it to a state oversight board without a more localized oversight commission that is equipped to keep a close watch on the departments policies and procedures. in communication and M.S. The answer, according to the caption, was to break a tail light on his car so the police will stop him and shoot him., Someone else sent a picture of a candy cane, a Christmas tree ornament, a star for the top of the tree and an enslaved person.. Daniels said the officer approached him three days later at a local mall. All the while, the city contended officers were innocent and that all the allegations were fabricated, including one that officers had squeezed the testicles of three teenage Latino detainees. The text messages were not on one continuous thread, according to two of the sources. Critics of the department have a different term for the line of demarcation: the Great White Wall, they call it, a racial boundary that they believe is patrolled with apartheid vengeance by the overwhelmingly white Torrance Police Department. Although the current race-related lawsuits have shined a stark and unflattering light on the force, it is not the first time that Torrance police have come under legal scrutiny. So we totally racially profiled his ass, haha Shopping at 7/11 while Black, he didnt know the rules lol, Tomsic wrote, according to the records. 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