Battery Charges Dropped Against Ex-Councilman

Former City Councilman Isaac Richard will not face charges after his arrest last month by a woman who charged that he hit her with a telephone, the city prosecutor said Wednesday.

An investigation concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove the allegations of misdemeanor battery, said prosecutor Tracy Webb.

Cathrina Carter, 28, told police that Richard struck her with the telephone during a landlord-tenant dispute Aug. 6 in which he was trying to remove her from a house he owns, authorities said.

Neither Carter nor Richard, who now lives in the Bay Area, could be reached for comment. Carter, whose left wrist was bruised, told police she had made a verbal agreement to move into Richard’s Pasadena house and came home to find the former councilman throwing her belongings on the lawn, the police report said.

But Richard told police he never told Carter and her husband to move in and was surprised to find her in the Forest Avenue house last month. He said Carter attacked him as he removed her furnishings from the house, the report said.