Community Commentary:

I’ve been paying very close attention to what has been going on with city of Glendale regarding my brother’s case ever since a federal jury found that the Glendale Police Department violated his constitutional rights by conducting the arrest without probably cause, as clearly defined in the 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution (“Group seeks to review man’s jailing,” March 26).

Furthermore, the jury found that Det. Arthur Frank and his supervisor Lt. Ian Grimes were to be held liable for punitive damages for the purposes of preventing them from acting like they did in my brother’s case (conducting an arrest without obtaining an arrest warrant based on probable cause). Among the damages awarded by the federal jury is for loss of reputation caused by the false murder charge. It seems like the damages just continue.

I have been reading the Glendale News-Press and watching City Council meetings and local TV regarding this matter. I’m just utterly disgusted and baffled as to the approach that the city of Glendale is taking regarding this case. It is clear, though, that the city of Glendale continues to add further salt into my brother’s open wounds.

Particularly, I am appalled by the comments made by Councilmen Dave Weaver and Frank Quintero (“Group seeks to review man’s jailing,” March 26) and by Police Chief Randy Adams. The police chief made his commentary as one of the last actions of his career before announcing his retirement (“The facts in case,” Community Commentary, April 7). Maybe that is a sign that there is hope for the citizens of Glendale that the Glendale Police Department and the city, despite their comments and actions to the contrary, have learned that they cannot make an arrest without probable cause and circumvent the United States Constitution.

It seems that these individuals like to point out as little as possible of what actually happened and give the community the wrong information.