Pasadena police release video of officer shooting colleague
Pasadena Police Department says it has released a critical-incident video from a September 7, 2025 shooting in its parking structure at 240 Ramona Street, where one officer was injured during what Chief Gene Harris described as unsafe conduct involving loaded firearms. The department says the officer has recovered, and that the release was delayed to protect investigative steps. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and Pasadena Police Department are still reviewing the incident. The case is not a Belgian story in any direct sense, but it is a compact example of a wider public-safety dilemma: video can make police incidents visible, while investigations and privacy rules can slow disclosure. For Belgium Pulse, the main relevance is comparative, not local: Belgium's own police zones and federal police have been expanding body-camera use under a different legal framework.
Trust & Evidence📚 6 sources· ✓ Editor reviewed· 🧠 AI-checked· Trust status: not yet independently verifiedView evidence & verification Hide
Verification record
- 📚 6 verified sources — Al Jazeera - Dashcam shows US cop accidentally shooting colleague during horseplay · Pasadena Police Department - Critical Incident Information Video PA2025-70379 · California Legislative Information - AB-748 Peace officers: video and audio recordings: disclosure · People - Calif. Police Officer Accidentally Shoots Fellow Cop in Horseplay Incident Caught on Video …
- 🧠 Medium confidence — AI-checked, editor-approved
- 🇧🇪 Belgian impact: Low
- 📜 Provenance recorded & timestamped
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About this story
Pasadena Police Department (municipal police force serving Pasadena, California) is the agency that released the video. Pasadena (city in Los Angeles County, California, known internationally for the Rose Bowl and Tournament of Roses Parade) is where the incident occurred. Ramona Street (central Pasadena street near civic buildings) is the location of the department parking structure cited by police. Gene Harris (Pasadena police chief) is the official who narrated the department's account of the incident. Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office (county prosecutorial authority for Los Angeles County) is reviewing the shooting alongside the department. California Assembly Bill 748 (2018 state transparency law on police critical-incident recordings) is the statute the department cites for releasing audio and video. California Government Code Section 7923.625 (current codification of the disclosure rule) sets conditions for withholding or releasing critical-incident recordings.
How to read this story
The history
California's Legislature approved AB 748 in 2018, and the bill text says critical-incident recordings may generally be delayed for 45 calendar days during an active investigation, with further delay requiring justification. The Pasadena Police Department says its June 2026 release was delayed to protect investigative steps after the September 2025 shooting. Research gives a cautionary backdrop: Lum, Koper, Wilson, Stoltz and Goodier's 2020 Campbell systematic review found mixed effects from police body-worn cameras on officer and citizen behaviour, making policy design and enforcement as important as the camera itself.
Why now
The story is timely because Pasadena Police Department released the critical-incident video on June 10, 2026, months after the September 7, 2025 shooting, citing the need to protect investigative steps before publication.
What to watch
Watch for a Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office decision, any fuller Pasadena Police Department disciplinary disclosure, and whether additional records are released under California's public-records framework. The timing of those steps is not yet clear from the available official materials.
International angle
The case belongs mainly to United States policing, but it has cross-border relevance as a comparison point for countries expanding police camera use. Belgium's federal and local police operate under different law and oversight, yet the same basic governance questions recur: who controls release, how privacy is protected, and whether footage leads to accountability.
What this means for you
There is no direct action for Belgian residents. The practical takeaway for Belgian public bodies and police-watchers is comparative: camera adoption should be assessed together with release deadlines, privacy rules, internal discipline and independent review. For general readers, graphic police footage can be disturbing and should be treated as evidence within an ongoing process, not as the whole record.
What happens next
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and Pasadena Police Department are expected to continue reviewing the evidence. Pasadena Police Department says investigators are evaluating video recordings, witness statements, forensic evidence and other material. Further public signals could include a prosecutor decision, a fuller internal disciplinary outcome, or additional records released under California public-records rules.
Potential consequences
The case could pressure Pasadena Police Department to clarify firearm-handling discipline, training supervision and how quickly it discloses critical-incident video. Because the officer recovered, the broader consequence is less about casualty scale than institutional credibility. For other police agencies, including those watched from Belgium, the lesson is that cameras may expose misconduct but cannot substitute for command standards, disciplinary transparency or prosecutor review.
Opposing perspectives
- Pasadena Police Department / investigators
Pasadena Police Department says the delayed release protected essential investigative steps while the case remained under review. That frame treats transparency as necessary but sequenced: video should be public, but not before witness statements, forensic work and internal review are far enough advanced to avoid compromising the record.
- California transparency-law framework
California's AB 748 framework starts from the opposite pressure point: recordings of police shootings are public-interest material and should be withheld only under defined investigation or privacy exceptions. The strongest version of this frame is that public trust requires disclosure rules that do not depend solely on police discretion.
Timeline
- 2018-09-30·California's governor approved AB 748, creating disclosure rules for police critical-incident recordings.
- 2019-07-01·The AB 748 disclosure provisions began applying to critical-incident recordings.
- 2025-09-07·Pasadena Police Department says one officer was injured in a shooting inside its parking structure.
- 2026-06-10·Pasadena Police Department released Critical Incident Information Video PA2025-70379.
Related to this story
Live connections from the Belgium Impulse ecosystem — not recommendations.
This briefing was prepared with AI assistance and reviewed by a Belgium Impulse editor before publication. methodology.