The Region - News from Feb. 3, 1985

A Pasadena man has sued the Pasadena Police Department, claiming that two unidentified police officers choked his father to death while in the Pasadena jail. In the Los Angeles Superior Court suit, Stephen Shepard said his father, John Shepard, was physically and verbally abused by the two officers after his arrest last March. Police said the elder Shepard had hanged himself with a sweater, making the death a suicide, according to attorney Jim Page, who represents Stephen Shepard. Page said bruises on the victim’s face indicated that he had been beaten.