Pasadena Police Describe Death of Popular Barber : Inquiry: Account fails to win over skeptical public because it omits the actions by officers of other departments that were involved in the arrest.

In an unusual display of openness about an ongoing investigation, Pasadena police officials gave community members a step-by-step account Tuesday night of the pursuit and arrest of a popular black barber who died March 9 in police custody.

But officers would not discuss the role of other police departments that took part in the chase, which brought icy skepticism from the audience at a Pasadena City Council meeting held at All Saints Episcopal Church.

“If you’re just talking about the Pasadena police, how do we really know what happened?” asked one woman.

Michael Bryant, whose case has become as important as the Rodney G. King case for many Pasadena residents, led police on a four-city chase that ended with his death in the back of a police car.

The Los Angeles County coroner last week declared Bryant’s death a homicide, whose causes were acute cocaine intoxication and asphyxiation from being hogtied and laid on his stomach.

Police released a transcript Tuesday night of communications between Pasadena officers and a dispatcher during the 30-minute chase, which began in San Marino and ended in a Highland Park apartment swimming pool.

Police also offered a slide show to the audience, with maps of the zigzagging route of the chase and pictures of the Highland Park hillside where Bryant left his car to flee on foot, and of the swimming pool where he was captured.

An audio tape of the communications indicated that the time between Bryant’s fall into the pool and the time he was subdued with a Taser gun was less than two minutes. Los Angeles police, defending the use of the stun gun, had said officers waited at least five minutes for Bryant to leave the pool voluntarily.

According to Pasadena Police Chief Jerry Oliver, there was no “inappropriate conduct” by Pasadena officers.

Before he was taken into custody, Bryant was hit several times by police batons, shot with a Taser gun and tied up. The Taser shooting and the hogtying were done by Los Angeles officers.

Representatives from the San Marino and Los Angeles police departments, who had been invited to the meeting by the Pasadena City Council, did not attend.