‘Disgruntled Former Employee’ is Suspected of Attack Mailer on Police Chief Crum, City Manager
CATHEDRAL CITY — A mailer delivered to city residents this week alleging that Police Chief George Crum treated an American Patriot with 38 years of service to this country, state and Coachella Valley “unfairly, inequally (sic) and unprofessionally,’ is the handiwork of a former disgruntled employee, City Manager Charlie McClendon told Uken Report.
The mailer, published in both English and Spanish” claims a “use of force incident” was “covered up” and shows an image of CCPD dash cam video that was posted on YouTube.
“Everything claimed in that mailer is untrue,” McClendon said. “We investigated it internally and the District Attorney’s office (at Crum’s request) investigated it, and we found no wrongdoing. This is an issue that has been going on a long time.”
McClendon did not name the former disgruntled employee, and instead referred to a Desert Sun article published on April 5. The article is about how a former Cathedral City police officer caught on camera beating a man during an arrest will not face criminal charges.
Dash cam footage shows then-Officer Jeffrey Aguirre hit a man who fled from police with a baton several times after other officers had removed him from his car and were attempting to handcuff him. The dash camera footage of the beating was posted online and began going viral in late 2022, about two years after the confrontation.
According to the article, a former Cathedral City police officer, Cladiu Murzea, obtained the video through a public records request and posted it online, later saying he believed the confrontation was not adequately being investigated by the department.
Crum has always denied that as has McClendon.
He said there will be no investigation to determine exactly who is behind the mailer.
“If they’re spending that kind of money … the chief and I are in the public sphere,” McClendon said. “People can say what they want.”
