Pasadena Police Department faces

lawsuit over hidden

evidence in shooting
By Brian Charles,
Staff Writer,
twitter.com/JBrianCharles
POSTED: 03/04/13, 12:01 AM PST |

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PASADENA - A former resident says Pasadena

police failed to turn over evidence - including
several hundred photographs - during a criminal
trial in which he was charged with assault.
Attorneys for Sherwin Williams, 46, of Fontana
said they learned of the evidence while preparing
for a civil trial against the city and two Pasadena
police officers.
The suit alleges officers Alex Torres and Kenneth
Florendo engaged in an excessive use of force and
assaulted Williams when they fired 22 rounds at
his pickup truck on Dec. 27, 2010. Williams' suit
seeks unspecified damages.
Williams' suit also claims the city was negligent
and failed to train and supervise the officers
involved in the shooting that damaged several cars
and an outdoor storage container.
"The cops unloaded 22 shots in a crowded
intersection," said Danielle Claxton, one of
Williams' attorneys. "Those cops lied."
City officials have denied Williams' claims.
Williams was not hurt in the shooting. He was
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later arrested on suspicion of attempted murder

and faced a possible life sentence. Williams was
ultimately charged with assault with a
semiautomatic firearm and the illegal discharge of
a single shot.
He was acquitted of all charges in October 2011.
Before Williams' criminal trial, his defense
attorneys received 218 photos taken by the
Pasadena Police Department, said Anthony
Willoughby, Williams' lead trial attorney.
More than two years after the incident - and a year
after the criminal trial ended - Willoughby said his
office received more than 500 additional crimescene photos sent to his office by Pasadena
Assistant City Attorney Hugh "Tim" Halford.
"He could have gone away for life and they held
these photos," Willoughby said.
Neither Halford nor Pasadena police Chief Phillip
Sanchez could be reached Monday for comment.
Shortly after Williams' arrest, the Pasadena Police
Department issued a press release alleging that
Williams fired directly at the officers, and that an
officer was injured as a result. The specific details
of the injury were never released. Williams
attorney said the shot fired by his client - into the
air - never came close to the officers.
Initial reports from the Police Department
identified Williams as a "known associate" of the
Pasadena Denver Lanes. His attorney denies the
allegation.
Police Detective William Broghamer was the
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investigating officer on the Williams shooting.

Broghamer was moved to desk duty last month
after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry
Fidler, while declaring a mistrial in a murder case,
called Broghamer's actions in that murder
investigation "egregious." Broghamer failed to
turn over exculpatory evidence in the murder case
and threatened a witness.
Before the shooting, Williams said he was
confronted by a member of the Pasadena Denver
Lanes Blood gang. Williams claims the gang
member called him a snitch and threatened to kill
him in the CVS parking lot in the 900 block of
North Lake Avenue.
In his claim against the city, Williams
acknowledged firing a "single shot" into the air to
protect himself and ward off the approaching gang
member.
Police officers involved in a traffic stop nearby
said they witnessed the shooting. In their initial
reports, Torres and Florendo said they believed
Williams was about to shoot them and fired on his
pickup truck as it left the scene.
After Fidler's decision, Sanchez launched an
independent audit of the Police Department and
its tactics. The audit is the latest of several
investigations into the department.
Independent investigation by the department's
Internal Affairs unit, the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department Internal Affairs Bureau, the
county Alternate Public Defender's Office, and the
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county District Attorney's Office are under way.

brian.charles@sgvn.com
626-657-0986