A year and a half after two Pasadena police officers beat him during a traffic stop, Christopher Ballew’s federal lawsuit against the city is moving forward after a judge ruled the vast majority of his claims can be decided by a jury — which will be tasked with considering whether the stop and use of force pass legal muster.

Ballew sued the city, former police chief Phillip Sanchez, the two officers and their supervisor after the November 2017 incident. Ballew, who was 21 at the time, sustained injuries to his left eye, cuts on his shin and a broken leg during the traffic stop conducted by officers Lerry Esparza and Zachary Lujan.

John Burton, Ballew’s attorney, alleges his client’s civil rights were violated as officers adhered to Pasadena Police Department policies, leading to the stop and subsequent events, including the beating itself.

The two officers were part of PPD’s gang unit and patrolling Northwest Pasadena allegedly looking for young black men like Ballew driving cars with minor vehicle code violations, according to the lawsuit. Ballew did not have a front license plate and was breaking window-tint rules. He was pulled over outside city limits in Altadena, where he lives.

By targeting young black men in the area, police department brass figured officers would be likely to come across people who happened to be gang members, the suit alleges.

In a legal filing, an attorney for the city asked a judge to throw out a dozen claims. U.S. District Court Judge Fernando M. Olguin on March 29 largely rejected that request, finding that the vast majority of Ballew’s claims — which argue the city, the officers and their supervisors all played a role in the incident — can be decided by a jury.

A judicial rebuke

In addition, the judge admonished the city’s attorney, Justin Reade Sarno, for legal malfeasance. Sarno made misrepresentations in his filings that undermined his credibility, the judge wrote. He also took issue with the fact that the lawyer ignored certain allegations in Ballew’s suit when crafting a defense.

Dale Gronemeier, a local attorney and a member of the Coalition for Increased Civilian Oversight of Pasadena Police, called the ruling “overwhelmingly positive” and said he’s rarely seen such a strong rebuke of an attorney by a judge in his four decades of legal practice.

In response to a request for comment, a city spokewoman provided a statement from Sarno:

“We accept the court’s order on our motion to dismiss, which addressed the initial allegations raised by Mr. Ballew. While we disagree with some aspects of the ruling, we will continue to strongly defend the case to protect the public’s taxpayer dollars, as the matter moves forward,” the statement said.

Ballew is asking for punitive damages in the lawsuit. It’s unclear how much the defense is costing the city.

Esparza and Lujan were reassigned to a desk job last year under an internal investigation into their actions was completed. It’s unclear what their current assignment is.

‘Long and convoluted narrative’

Ballew was walking into an Altadena gas station from his car, which was parked at the pump, when the two officers called out to him. They had turned the squad car around after spotting him driving south on Fair Oaks Avenue, according to the lawsuit.

A police spokesman said at the time that Ballew had become combative and that he pulled a baton out of an officer’s hand during a struggle. Ballew’s lawyer alleged officers deliberately escalated the situation, which led to Ballew’s injuries.

In his motion to dismiss, the city’s attorney described Ballew’s version as “a long and convoluted narrative of inflammatory presumptions.”

Video recordings released after the incident showed Esparza and Lujan hitting Ballew with a baton and smashing his face into the ground.

Ballew was released on $50,000 bail. The district attorney’s office later declined to charge Ballew with any crime. Police have said Ballew resisted arrest and initially attempted to get him charged with assault on an officer.

Among the claims the judge allowed to move forward are unlawful detention based on race, excessive force, falsification of reports, excessive bail, that city policy created the conditions that allowed the beating to happen and that the police supervisors share some of the blame.

The judge dismissed a claim that police denied Ballew medical care but left open the option for his attorney to reintroduce the claim with more information.

He dismissed a claim Ballew was falsely imprisoned. The city’s attorney argued that Ballew’s own account showed resistance to officers’ commands: such as when an officer ordered him to give the officer his hand, which Ballew responded to by placing his phone on the car roof.