lawsuit

PASADENA (CBSLA) – Pasadena police are expected to release dash cam video Tuesday which officials claim will exonerate two officers who are accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting a mother and her adult daughter during a traffic stop more than two years ago. The two women filed a $25 million civil rights lawsuit in U.S. district court in April against the city of Pasadena and the Pasadena Police Department over a traffic stop that occurred on the afternoon of May 2, 2016, in the area of Altadena Drive and Foothill Boulevard. According to the complaint, the officers, identified as Brendan Thebeau and Carey (no last name given), violated the civil rights of 43-year-old Sharell Thompson, and her daughter, 22-year-old Sharaya Brown. In a statement to CBS2 Monday, Officer Lisa Derderian, a Pasadena police spokeswoman, called the allegations “baseless and said “the claims on which the lawsuit rests are easily proven false.” “The in-car camera footage from the patrol car clearly shows that the officers acted appropriately.” Derderian wrote that the officers initiated the traffic stop “based upon a detective investigation and traffic violation witnessed by police.” The officers “remained professional the entire time,” Derderian wrote. They conducted “necessary searches of the individuals –a waist-band check for weapons — and of the vehicle.” Derderian went on: “After the vehicle and individuals were searched and questioned, they were free to leave the scene.” The lawsuit, however, contends the officers physically searched the women without probable cause or justification, with one of the male officers “using his bare hands to rub between (the) legs,” in the areas of the “crotch” and “buttocks” and inside the pants of the daughter. The suit alleges that one of the officers forced the mother to lift her shirt and “expose her breasts” in public view. Even though the mother immediately drove to the Pasadena Police Department after the stop to lodge a complaint, the police department failed to seriously investigate the claims and refused to take any disciplinary action against the officers, the lawsuit alleges. (©2018 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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Pasadena Police To Release Video Refuting Lawsuit Over Traffic Stop Of Mother, Daughter