San Marino Wants Mental Evaluation Of Woman, Daughter Suing City

PASADENA, CA — Two women who sued the city of San Marino alleging police made an unjustified stop of their car in 2023 should undergo independent psychological examinations because they are putting their emotional distress at issue, attorneys for the city and the two officers named in the suit contend in new court papers.

Diana Mancillas and her daughter, Gabriana Gutierrez, contend in their Pasadena Superior Court lawsuit that officers stopped their car, ordered them out at gunpoint and handcuffed them despite knowing the vehicle did not have the same license plate as a reported stolen car. Gutierrez alleges she was groped during the stop.

On Wednesday, lawyers for the city and Officers Carlos Bonilla and Alejandro Sandoval filed court papers with Judge Jared D. Moses asking that he grant their motion to conduct mental evaluations of the pair as part of their defense of their clients.

"Plaintiffs have clearly placed their mental condition in controversy...," the defense attorneys state in their court papers.

The lawyers for the city and the officers are asking that Dr. Marc A. Cohen, a psychiatrist, perform the examinations no later than Jan. 31, 2027, at his Beverly Hills office. The attorneys are proposing that the interviews of the plaintiffs last up to eight hours and that they be recorded on both audio and visual platforms.

In their suit brought in May 2025, Mancillas and Gutierrez, now 22, allege false arrest and imprisonment, sexual battery, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil rights violations. According to the complaint, a man called 911 on May 5, 2023 at about 8:55 a.m. to report he was following what he believed to be his stolen 2013 Kia Optima, and he also informed the dispatcher of the car's license plate number. Although he told the 911 operator the license plate didn't match his stolen car, he still said he believed it was his vehicle, the complaint states.

Any simple check of the plate number the caller reported would have confirmed the car belonged to Mancillas, who by this time had parked her car, the suit states.

However, the two SMPD officers were sent out anyway and, despite lacking reasonable suspicion or probably cause, pointed guns at the plaintiffs, ordered them out of the car with their hands up and told them to walk backward in front of multiple onlookers, the suit states.

The two women feared for their safety and complied, the suit states. Gutierrez, then 19, was moved to a "less conspicuous area" next to a police vehicle and she was groped on her thighs and on a breast, the suit further alleges.

"The touching was offensive, non-consensual, and caused plaintiff Gabriana extreme humiliation, fear and emotional distress," according to the suit, which further states that the officers did not check to see if the car matched the stolen vehicle until after the women were handcuffed and their car searched, after which they were released..

"The entire encounter, from the unjustified high-risk stop to the unlawful groping of Gabriana, constituted unreasonable and excessive force under the circumstances," the suit states, adding that both women continue to suffer emotional distress and humiliation.

But in their court papers, defense attorneys state that the lawsuit should be dismissed. The lawyers say the officers explained that a 911 call mistakenly reported that the plaintiffs' car was stolen and that the exchange between the women and the officers was cordial.

The plaintiffs' "mere inconvenience and disagreement" with the officers' actions does not create liability and this is especially true where the "uncontroverted evidence" demonstrates that the officers acted appropriately while investigating a possible crime, the defense attorneys further state in their court papers.

City News Service