Pasadena Ca Suits

Pasadena barber Michael James Bryant, who was involved in a car chase and struggle with police last month, died of "cocaine intoxication and asphyxiation from restraint procedures," a coroner's spokesman said Wednesday. Bryant had a potentially lethal level of cocaine in his blood when he died shortly after 1 a.m. March 9, but the coroner described the death as a homicide, said spokesman Scott Carrier.

Los Angeles Police Department officials said Thursday that they are getting closer to finding Pasadena Police Sgt. Paul Gales' son. Authorities said they believe 3-year-old Paul Gales, Jr. was abducted by his mother, Loistine Drake, on Valentine's Day during a monitored visit at the Los Angeles Zoo. Drake is being investigated by the LAPD for violation of a court order that mandates all contact with her son be monitored. "We're getting some clues that she may try to contact us," said LAPD Det.

Caltrans, the city of Pasadena and a contractor have agreed to pay $552,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a group of apartment renters alleging that a city sewer flooded their homes and that the subsequent removal of asbestos in the flooring was improperly completed, leading to contamination and loss of most their possessions. The sewer overflowed in January 1993, sending sewage gushing into a Caltrans-owned apartment complex in the 200 block of California Avenue.

A lawsuit alleging that the new press box and luxury suites at the Rose Bowl are inaccessible to the handicapped, and therefore violate federal laws, has been filed in federal district court in Los Angeles by a former Olympic athlete. Century City attorney Stanley Fleishman said that Kirk Kilgour, a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic volleyball team, who became a quadriplegic in a 1976 training injury, is asking that entrances to the boxes and press box be reconstructed to make them accessible.

Pasadena Fire Chief Kaya Pekerol was fired Monday after a long-running dispute with City Manager Philip A Hawkey. City spokeswoman Ann Erdman said that Acting Deputy Fire Chief Calvin Wells will assume Pekerol's duties Although Erdman declined to specify the reasons for Pekerol's dismissal, she noted that Hawkey had placed the fire chief on paid administrative leave three times in the past year, at least once because of what Hawkey called "performance issues."

The city has paid $132,000 to settle a lawsuit by a woman who tripped and severely injured her ankle during a 1995 UCLA football game at the Rose Bowl. Beverly Fairbairn, 55, of Thousand Oaks, fell when she stepped into a two-inch gap in the pavement near a tunnel. Attorneys for Fairbairn alleged that Rose Bowl officials had known about the problem since the 1980s when a similar claim was settled. "It was almost exactly the same location," said attorney Neil S. Steiner.

Former City Councilman Isaac Richard has filed a $1-million lawsuit against the city of Pasadena, alleging that police deprived him of civil rights when they arrested him a year ago during a tenant dispute. In the suit filed late last month, Richard alleges that officers wrongfully arrested and handcuffed him after a woman at his former home accused him of hitting her in the face during a dispute Aug. 6, 1997.

The Pasadena Humane Society has agreed to pay $65,000 to settle a lawsuit by a dog owner who claimed that officers entered his home without a search warrant to seize his beagle, which had been seen running unleashed in the street. The settlement on the eve of trial comes more than four years after Nicholas Conway, a former council candidate, accused Humane Society officers of illegally entering his Linda Vista neighborhood home in search of Toby, a one-eyed beagle.

A federal lawsuit's allegations that the Pasadena school district's lottery system for entry to its three best schools is based on race has no foundation, district officials said Friday. Supt. Vera Vignes and school board President Lisa Fowler said the Pasadena Unified School District will give immediate entry to siblings of those already at the schools, but beyond that, the selection will be entirely random.

The city of Pasadena was sued Tuesday by the parent company of the daily Pasadena Star-News and a weekly, the Star, claiming that an ordinance restricting distribution of handbills violates the 1st Amendment. The federal lawsuit filed by the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group claims that the ordinance is vague, overly broad and a "content-based regulation" of free speech.