San Rafael Saga: A Rush to Judgment
San Rafael Elementary School. Photo and graphic treatment, Doug Forbes
August 22, 2022
PASADENA, Calif. — The Southern California city famous for its New Year’s parade and gridiron throwdown is currently under a microscope for a racially charged incident fueled by a questionable police response.
Pasadena police dispatch called four officers to San Rafael Elementary School after a neighbor claimed to witness a suspicious person who scaled a fence with two bags. According to police bodycam footage, the officers broke through the gate on the grounds to confront a young man wearing a custodial uniform.
Pasadena police hide behind retaining wall before they ambush custodian.
Without first asking the man why he was on the grounds, the officers moved in with hands on their holsters, stun rifles slung about their shoulders. They demanded that the man get to his knees, after which they cuffed him for nearly seven minutes.
Officers with hands on holsters surprise the custodian. Click to enlarge
The man wore a custodial uniform replete with his name patch. He also donned a large belt ring that included school keys. Custodial equipment was visible within feet of him.
Nonetheless, the officers repeatedly questioned why he was at the school on a Sunday, why he scaled the fence and why someone would make a call about suspicious activity. The man said he was working overtime at the principal’s request, since the following day marked the start of the new school year.
Click to enlarge
He said he did not understand why a neighbor would contend that he was breaking in, since he clearly possessed keys. The 40-something man has been a district custodian for 14 years.
The neighbor’s call was almost entirely erroneous, according to the publicly released recording. The male caller incorrectly described the custodian as a tall, white female in her twenties or thirties scaling the school fence while wearing a dark brown shirt and carrying multiple bags. The caller said, “It didn’t look good.”
The custodian is an average size, Hispanic male in his 40’s who wore a light blue uniform shirt and did not scale the fence because he had keys.
The custodian said to an officer that neighbors had a history of registering unwarranted complaints about the school instead of calling when there were legitimate issues with trespassers smoking pot on the grounds after hours.
Officers remove all personal belongings including a personal phone.
An officer used the custodian’s phone to verify his employment with San Rafael principal Rudy Ramirez. As one officer released the man from cuffs, another continued to pepper the custodian about why someone would call.
Ramirez rushed to the school from his home in Arcadia, 20 minutes away. A guard from California Metro Patrol, a private residential and commercial security service, greeted Ramirez when he arrived. Ramirez did not threaten the guard. In fact, he engaged him in conversation for more than eight minutes.
The guard had apparently coordinated with the police who had exited the scene. According to the footage, he asked Ramirez for his contact information but did not inform Ramirez that he used a body cam to record their conversation. Ramirez did not ask why the guard would want his contact information, despite the fact that the guard worked for a private service.
It was unclear why Metro assigned someone to provide further reporting and video footage of an incident the police had already closed. It was also unclear why Ramirez would be willing to share his personal contact information with a private security guard he did not know.
Apparently, the city of Pasadena has a contract with Metro in which they provide campus security. I submitted a FOIA request on August 22 to gather the terms of that contract. The city has 10 days to respond with documents.
The Metro guard later submitted a report to Pasadena PD in which he said Ramirez was “irate.” He also reported that Ramirez said, “I bet if he [custodian] was white he wouldn’t have been treated like that.” Ramirez does not say that on the supplied footage. This might imply that the guard decided to activate his body cam for reasons that remain unclear.
Ramirez was visibly angered by the entire chain of events — from the neighbor’s call to the abrupt police response.
A school parent on a bike ride with her son happened upon the scene. Audio of her is hard to understand, but she asked, “Which neighbor is it that called?” Ramirez refused to acknowledge her. She made another hard-to-understand comment, but it seemed to imply that she too was flabbergasted by the incident. Again, Ramirez did not respond.
After she left, Ramirez called her a “nosy fucking punk.” He said he would not “talk shit” in front of her “because she’s white and she’s gonna go tell her white neighbors.” As Ramirez became more upset, he said that he was a Chicano, not “a wetback,” and his money was as green as her money.
“Wetback” is a derogatory term most often directed at Mexican persons who illegally cross the Rio Grande River into Texas for the purpose of seeking a better life. Ramirez is of Mexican descent.
As a car passed the two men, Ramirez said its driver was another neighbor whom he called either “a motherfucking bitch” or “another bitch.”
She had apparently confronted him over a parent concern. Ramirez said she touched her pointer finger on his chest. “You know, it’s so funny,” he said, “if they saw me away from work, they wouldn’t fuck with me — I don’t play those games very well.”
A few minutes later, the custodian entered the scene, exchanged a few words with the two men and said as he left, “I have tell my people to wear this uniform, no matter what.” As the head custodian, he presumably referred to other custodians under his supervision.
Ramirez said to him, “Dude, you have to. He’s Black. You have to.” Ramirez was likely referring to another school custodian who is Black and not the Black police officer who responded to the scene.
The custodian had apparently said to Ramirez, off-camera, that the Black officer in particular was “the most aggressive” with him. Ramirez said when he had dealt with that officer before he was nice.
The Metro guard filed his report with Pasadena PD, soon after which Mayor Gordo distributed a public letter that castigated Ramirez. Hundreds of Pasadena parents authored their own response in which they said they fully supported Ramirez. A smaller group of parents wrote yet another letter in which they claimed the principal had a history of racist, sexist tirades.
Ramirez submitted his own letter of contrition in which he alluded to being ashamed and was prepared to make amends with the community.
The Pasadena Board of Education will address the incident during its August 25 meeting. Parents on both sides of the issue will offer comments, after which board members debate in closed session. The board has yet to officially weigh in. District superintendent Brian McDonald is debating the principal’s fate. An interim principal is on-site.