By
Christopher Odalis
It seemed like another beautiful
Saturday morning in sunny Pasadena, California as hundreds of people showed up
to dine, shop and enjoy a relaxing day. Some were aware of an event
scheduled that day and were forced to stay clear of the main arteries Colorado
Blvd and Union Street that run through the city. They certainly didn’t expect
what came next.
Unknown to residents who had parked
their cars in various parking structures before visiting the gym, restaurants
and shops, they would not be getting out any time soon. Upon returning to their
cars hours later and trying to exit the parking structures, they were met by
armed police on bikes and on foot, barring them from exiting. By unanimous
accounts, it was like a scene out of iRobot where the policeman began rudely
and methodically yelling at residents to return to their cars. When asked why
they couldn’t leave, the officers said it was because of the bike tour and that
they would not be let out until hours later.
The problem was that nothing was
posted at the entrances to any of the parking structures warning people that if
they parked there, they would not be able to exit until later. For those who
needed to pick up children, attend to elderly parents, respond to a family
emergency or other urgent business, it was a very serious problem. And it
was happening to hundreds of people simultaneously. A call to Lieutenant Tracey
Ibarra of the Pasadena police department yielded a simple denial of any false
imprisonment allegations, though she did sympathize with residents' complaints.
However, the law provides a test for determining what constitutes false
imprisonment. The results of this test call into serious question the judgement
of the officers on the scene:
(1) Were people willfully detained from leaving? Yes. The police denied exit of the vehicles. Clearly
everyone in the parking structure arrived by car and could not get where they
needed to go without that car.
(2) Were people detained without
consent? Yes. Clearly they did not consent to
being detained.
(3) Were people detained without the authority of law behind
this detention? Yes. None of the residents
were suspected or accused of committing a crime. The permit that the police
department thought gave them the authority was most certainly contingent upon
proper notification to businesses and the posting of notices at the entrances
of the parking structures- notifications that failed to happen.
What made the situation even more
maddening to Pasadena residents was the cause of their unlawful detention. It
was not a raging building fire. There was no deranged fugitive on the loose. It
was a corporate-sponsored bike race where an group of weekend warriors suit up
to ride an insane distance so they can brag to colleagues on Monday about their
‘accomplishments'. But it gets even better. What corporation was sponsoring the
bike tour? Amgen, maker of Epogen. Remember that oxygen-doping drug that caused
the disqualification of Lance Armstrong and nearly every other leading cyclist
in the Tour De France? That’s the one. Widespread use of Epogen
single-handedly destroyed the event, which has not since recovered. Amgen now
faces over $1 billion in fines and settlement fees for illegally promoting
Epogen. Which begs the question that any city official should have asked before
agreeing to partner up with Amgen: Why the heck are they sponsoring a bike
tour, of all things?
Now, one has to step back and marvel
at the chain of events. Amgen effectively ruins cycling's most venerated
event the Tour De France. Amgen decides to establish its own Amgen Tour of
California where, coincidently, blood testing of cyclists will not be
conducted, thus increasing use of its lead product Epogen. Amgen pays millions
of dollars to the municipal boards of twelve cities, including Pasadena. The
city greedily accepts the money with no questions asked and force-feeds it
through their planning commissions. No public hearing is called to weigh the pros
and cons with residents, no referendum is held and consequently no consent is
ever obtained from the people. To put perspective on this, if an apartment
complex three blocks away wants to add a unit, they call a public
hearing. It’s absurd that an event taking over the main arteries of the
city, affecting over 100,000 residents, causing untold inconvenience and
hardship, would not warrant a public hearing. Lastly, this ill-conceived
plan hits the streets and the police department suddenly finds itself in the
embarrassing position of unlawfully detaining hundreds of people against their
will.
Just how upset are residents?
‘I just left the 24-Hour Fitness. I
came in from the street that allowed access to the parking structure. When I
came out to leave I was told by these police officers that I couldn’t leave. I
was told I would be detained until 4 PM. I’m a Pasadena resident and I didn’t
see anything on TV or receive anything in the mail so I don’t understand,’
stated Tim Brooks.
Rosemary Tong, another Pasadena
resident, was equally stunned. ‘I live in the area and didn’t receive any
notice from the city. Only the side streets were blocked but there were
no signs on the structure. I have to work at 4 PM and can’t get out.’
Melinda Walters entered a parking
structure through an open street but upon exiting later was blocked by police
and the exit gate. She was forced to sit in her car for two hours. ‘I was not
allowed to leave the parking structure. There was no sign saying we would not
be able to exit until 4 PM. Otherwise, I would not have parked here.’
Miguel Hernandez, a Pasadena
resident, drove into a parking structure where, again, no warning was posted.
‘I’m not able to leave and am being detained at the moment. It’s kind of a
hassle. They’re saying I can’t leave until 4 PM. The police aren’t even trying
to help us.’
‘You tend not to think about civil
rights abuse until it happens to you. Right now, we’re being held in the
parking structure unable to pick up our two-year-old daughter because there are
three Pasadena police men barring the way. These are not respectful, concerned
officers of the law, these are rude, belligerent thugs who think it’s
acceptable to shout out commands and trample people’s rights. I’m surprised
violence hasn’t erupted,’ said Stryker, singer from pop rock group
Millennium. ‘I’m out with my wife Sapphire and not looking for trouble.
But if you’re going to bar the exit without any prior notification and infringe
my rights, then be prepared for some unpleasantness.’
Three of the officers identified in
the unlawful detentions were officers Brown, Watson and Roehl. 'The callous and
rude behavior of these officers was completely unacceptable. They knew
something was wrong with what they were doing, but instead of re-evaluating the
situation and figuring out a way to help people, they became antagonistic
bullies,' stated Melanie Fischer, a resident of Highland Park who had eaten
breakfast at Mi Piace restaurant before returning to her car and encountering
the police.
The Pasadena bike tour debacle calls
into sharp focus two deep-seated and alarming trends. The first is corporate
and civic greed causing city officials to push through permits for lucrative
events without due consent from residents. Ironically, if such consent had been
sought, someone might have pointed out the glaring parking structure issue.
Yet, no one seemed to be thinking about residents’ rights at city hall, with
big money at stake. In short, the bike tour debacle reveals a dismal failure of
city officials to execute their civic duty- namely to represent the interests
of the people, not the interests of big corporations like Amgen. The second
alarming trend is the increased lawlessness and militant attitude of police
officers. Logically, if city officials are willing to trample over residents’
rights, that attitude will extend down the chain of command to them. But while
the first type of rights violations can be concealed from the public behind
closed doors, the second type cannot.
Gazing down Union Street, there are
certainly not the crowds of enthusiastic supporters that Amgen and the City of
Pasadena had hoped for. Instead, there are crowds of enraged residents
whose cars are trapped in parking structures against their will, while the
Pasadena police shout rude, fascist-style commands at them. Amidst the angry
and bewildered throngs are a conspicuously few people cheering the cyclists on.
They have Amgen shirts on. The scene pretty much says it all. It’s not the
scene Amgen and the City of Pasadena hoped for, but it looks like the scene
they rightfully deserve.
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