“If the (Pasadena Police) Department continues to defer to the District Attorney’s ongoing failure to ensure timely investigations and adjudications of police officer involved shootings in Los Angeles County, the Department will be unable to hold its officers accountable or learn lessons from these incidents to reduce the risk of uses of deadly force and ensure public faith in the integrity of these investigations and reviews,” Richard Rosenthal, Independent Police Auditor for Pasadena, said in his report about the May 8, 2020, fatal officer-involved shooting of Lloyd Nelson Jr.

Rosenthal found that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, under the failed leadership of D.A. Gascon, “appears to be unable to conduct timely criminal reviews of these incidents.” Administrative reviews of officer-involved shooting cases typically are conducted after the criminal investigation is completed.

During his campaign for D.A. in 2020, Gascon pledged to prioritize the investigation of police use-of-force cases, but he is failing to fulfill that pledge, said Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor running against Gascon in the Nov. 5 election.

“Conducting independent reviews of all officer-involving shootings in Los Angeles County is a core responsibility of the District Attorney’s Office,” Hochman said. “The career prosecutors assigned to these cases should have the resources they need to do their work in a timely manner and without political interference. This is important for the police officers and their departments, for the community and the families of the deceased. Prompt and final decision-making is essential to justice.”

The District Attorney’s Office took almost three years to clear the Pasadena police officer who fatally shot Lloyd Nelson Jr. on May 8, 2020, creating delays in the administrative review process, according to Rosenthal’s Sept. 30 report to the Community Police Oversight Commission, mayor and police chief.

Pasadena has three other open officer-involved shooting cases. The administrative investigation and review in the July 30, 2022, fatal shooting of Adam Youines “was held off and negatively impacted by the 1-1/2 year delay in the District Attorney’s adjudication of that case,” Rosenthal concluded.

The District Attorney’s Office has not yet made criminal filing determinations against the officers in the Nov. 23, 2021, fatal shooting of Devon Hall and the April 13, 2024, fatal shooting of Ricardo Andrade.

About Nathan Hochman:
Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney General, President of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission and defense attorney, is running to defeat George Gascon and become the next District Attorney of Los Angeles County. He is an Independent (No Party Preference) candidate who believes politics has no place in the D.A.’s Office. He has bipartisan support and is endorsed by the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs’ Association, the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, former District Attorney Jackie Lacey, a coalition of first responders, more than 70 elected officials and dozens of civic and business leaders. For more information about Hochman and his campaign, please visit www.NathanHochman.com.

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