Posted on 01/26/2021 5:49:28 PM PST by Uncle Miltie
Tacoma City Council and members of the Citizens Police Advisory Committee pressed police Chief Chief Mike Ake and City Manager Elizabeth Pauli for swift response and accountability after an officer drove through a crowd downtown on Saturday night, running over at least one person.
The incident led both the council and CPAC to schedule special meetings Monday night to address the issue, where various members called to address street racing and accountability from the Tacoma Police Department.
City Manager Elizabeth Pauli reiterated Monday night that she was “shocked and horrified to see video of a police vehicle driving over a person.”
“The chief and I stand united and committed to following the facts as we learn them through the independent investigation process to follow those facts with appropriate accountability,” she said.
TPD said the officer involved is Khanh Phan, 58, a member of the department for nearly 30 years. He was placed on paid administration immediately after the incident.
COUNCIL QUESTIONS STREET RACING
Some Tacoma City Council members urged a response to street racing after Ake summarized the event on Saturday began with calls from South Sound 911 about multiple vehicles and about 100 people blocking the intersection of South 9th Street and Pacific Avenue.
“The officer that was involved put the car in reverse, believed that he couldn’t move back any farther, put the car in drive and moved forward,” Ake said. Two people were transported to the hospital.
Ake said more details of the incident were turned over and are being investigated by the Pierce County Force Investigations Team.
Council member Robert Thoms said he didn’t understand how Saturday’s street racing event got so big so quickly.
“It’s particularly concerning to me that this happened roughly around 6 p.m. on a Saturday night on the most busy street in the city of Tacoma,” he said. “I just don’t know how it escalates to 100 people.”
Racing is illegal in Tacoma, categorized as “reckless driving” and a gross misdemeanor equal to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.
“You’re right, it’s like the flash mobs — when people organize and say a specific time, people can converge massively on a short time frame,” Ake told Thoms.
When asked why racers weren’t arrested, Ake said that it was a “chaotic” scene when officers initially arrived on scene.
“With (that) many people and the actions that allegedly taken place with hitting and striking the vehicles, it wasn’t a safe place, nor did they have the capacities or the capabilities to make arrests of the people that were involved,” he said.
When backup arrived, people quickly dispersed, Ake said.
Ake told City Council that there’s “great concern” among law enforcement in Pierce and King counties about street racing. Area commanders met Monday to address the issue, he said.
Ake said he wasn’t sure exactly what happened on Saturday night that caused the patrol car to be isolated. Normally he could access information of the case, but said he had to hand over that material to the Pierce County Force Investigation Team.
Council member Conor McCarthy expressed frustration over a lack of details shared with elected officials.
“We feel like we’re in the dark quite a bit. … It would be helpful to get as much information that can be shared with us as soon as possible, because I think it puts us in a better position to do our job as elected leaders,” he said.
McCarthy also spoke about protests following the incident, specifically on Sunday night that left some property damage.
“I wholeheartedly applaud and respect everyone who showed up and peacefully protested on the streets of Tacoma, but we need to hold the line in the city when it comes to vandalism and fires and other things — not necessarily because property is all that important … but because I think the expectation in this community is that we’re going to enforce the laws in Tacoma,” McCarthy said.
Deputy Mayor Keith Blocker said the meeting veered off topic and that they shouldn’t be focusing so much on street racing.
“An officer ran over pedestrians, street racers, whatever you want to call it — a human being was run over by an officer,” Blocker said. “That’s what this conversation should be centered on.”
Mayor Victoria Woodards recognized that some people are tired of being told to be patient and want change immediately.
Woodards spoke to the systems transformation underway at the city and how changes are being made and have already been made to the police department, including implementing police body cameras and the 8 Can’t Wait campaign that includes banning chokeholds, requiring de-escalation, banning shooting at moving vehicles and requiring an officer’s duty to intervene when they observe a use of excessive force by another officer.
“No, there should not have been street races … that’s illegal. And no, someone should not have been run over because of it. It’s all wrong,” Woodards said.
CPAC CALLS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY
Some CPAC members had strong remarks for Ake and city officials following the City Council meeting Monday, when nearly 600 people joined in a Zoom call for a special meeting.
CPAC’s role is to review and make recommendations to police policy. It is not an oversight committee, but CPAC members have advocated to make it one.
CPAC member Kiara Daniels said she’s seen “almost no accountability” from the police department and called the response so far “embarrassing.”
“We talked about needing real policy and real reform,” Daniels said. “And we got to talk about hiring and firing. And if we don’t talk about that, people are going to die. We got lucky yesterday.”
CPAC member Dana Coggon said the community has lost faith in TPD and called for making CPAC an oversight committee with more direct involvement in policy and holding the chief and staff accountable.
“Chief Ake, man, you’re getting thrown into the fire, but it’s the job you signed up for,” Coggon said. “This is the test of tests, and unfortunately, it’s coming at you fast.”
CPAC member Jeffrey Sargent said taking quick action could be the wrong action and stressed following facts.
“I think we need as much objectivity as we can — don’t let our passions get the best of us in this effort here that we’re doing,” Sargent said. “We all may have personal feelings or whatnot. But it’s important just to be as unbiased as possible to help our community heal through this process.”
CPAC member Shayna Raphael asked Ake whether the police officers involved in Saturday’s initial incident were wearing body cameras. Tacoma police have been rolling out the cameras since December and planned to finish by March.
They did not, according to Ake.
“It’s just unfortunate that this incident happened (with) the crew that’s scheduled to get body worn camera(s) on Feb. 4,” Ake said.
Ake added that there is body camera footage available from when two protesters were arrested later Saturday night.
The News Tribune has made a public records request for any body camera footage available of that
Two known advocates from Tacoma arrested on Saturday following the initial incident spoke to The News Tribune about that night.
Jamika Scott is a member of Tacoma Action Collective, a group working to “eliminate systemic oppression and structural violence while empowering the people to build autonomous communities rooted in equality and justice.”
Outraged by the video, Scott and another activist known as Haiku, founder of Tacoma Protest Daily, gathered Saturday night to protest.
Jamika Scott, a member of Tacoma Action Collective, was arrested after a group of protesters gathered near the scene Saturday night after a Tacoma police officer drove through a crowd. She was charged with obstruction of a public official and made bail with help from community donations. Photographed in Tacoma , Wash., on Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Joshua Bessex JBESSEX@THENEWSTRIBUNE.COM
Scott and Haiku said the group was standing behind the crime scene tape when a police officer told them to move.
“I took a seat crisscross applesauce in 1965 style and got arrested,” he said.
While trying to film Haiku’s arrest, Scott said she was being pushed by an officer and then arrested.
Scott said she noticed another protester sitting down and being arrested. As she tried to film the arrest, she said the officer continued to push her, and she heard an officer order to arrest her.
“My initial instinct is to continue to back away from them,” Scott said. “So they grabbed me, they’re yanking at me, they’re pulling my cell phone out of my hand, they tackled me to the ground, they were on top of me, pulling my arms behind my back. At that point when I was on the ground, I wasn’t resisting,” she said.
The two were taken to the County-City Building, and they were charged with obstruction of a public official. They made bail with help from community donations.
Both Scott and Haiku have been vocal about justice for Manuel Ellis and calling for the police officers involved with his death to be fired.
Haiku said that he doesn’t see any circumstance where it’s okay to drive through a crowd.
“There could have been someone in that crowd who wasn’t touching the cop car that could have got their skull crushed, that could have been sent to the hospital, that could have been sent to the morgue — so that is my answer to people who believe that the officer should have ran through 10-15 people to feel safe. I think that there should be other procedures for that,” he said.
Scott echoed the sentiment.
“(I’m) not saying that the people in the streets weren’t being a nuisance,” she said. “That’s not to say that, you know, doing donuts in an intersection isn’t a little dangerous. That’s saying that what they were doing did not give that officer the right to do what he did. And he had numerous times to make the decision not to do that. And now, people are hospitalized.”
Scott and Haiku said Saturday’s incident doesn’t help the relationship between police and the community and called for the resignation of Pauli.
“The impact of Saturday has only further solidified that disconnect and that tension between everyday citizens and our police,” Scott said.
On Tuesday, Democrats from the 27th District, representing Tacoma areas, introduced a resolution condemning police brutality and called on accountability of officers, up to and including termination and arrest, involved in the weekend’s events and in the case of Manuel Ellis, whose death was ruled a homicide by the Pierce County Medical Examiner after being restrained by officers in March.
“The resolution also calls for the resignation of City Manager Elizabeth Pauli if she is unable or unwilling to facilitate justice, and for the elected City Council to act with boldness and not the typical risk aversion encouraged by unelected City administrators when pursuing justice for victims,” the statement read.
Justin Camarata, chair of the 27th Legislative District Democrats, said the resolution will be distributed to elected leadership around Tacoma and introduced to the Washington State Democrats for further consideration next weekend.
The Washington Fraternal Order of Police also released a statement Monday regarding the weekend’s events and supporting a thorough investigation. The WAFOP is a nonprofit organization representing nearly 3,000 law enforcement officers across the state.
“It is important that we allow the Pierce County Force Investigation Team to conduct a thorough review of this incident,” WAFOP President Marco Monteblanco said. “… This is the time for investigators to do their job. We would ask the entire Tacoma community to allow a thorough and impartial review of the facts and circumstances regarding the incident, as well as the decisions made and the actions taken by the officer while responding to the illegal street racing activity.”
At a news conference Tuesday, Gov. Jay Inslee spoke of progress on a bill that create a state office of independent investigations for police use of force.
“The situation in Tacoma — we want to make sure that any police violence gets investigated and appropriately fair prosecutorial decisions are made,” Inslee said. “Obviously all of us share a feeling that we don’t want to see any police cars hitting any citizens. And that’s pretty clear.”
At a news conference Tuesday, Gov. Jay Inslee briefly mentions the recent incident involving a Tacoma police officer while discussing a bill that would create a state office of independent investigations for police use of force. BY TVW
Woodards testified to the state Legislature in support of the bill Tuesday morning.
“This bill is the City of Tacoma’s top priority for the 2021 session. We want strong, independent investigations,” Woodards said Tuesday. “Tacoma speaks from a place of experience — from the Manny Ellis case to what happened this weekend.”
She continued: “It would be even better if this instance could be investigated by a statewide agency to really continue to ensure that it’s independent. Our community has lost its trust, and it’s up to us to rebuild their trust by hearing them and doing what they are demanding.”
They attacked a cop in his car. If someone did this to their spouse, they would be arrested for false imprisonment in most states.
Attack a cop in his car, pay the price. They aren’t victims.
Did the officer hit and run? Or did he hit, stop and call in the ambulance? If a mob surrounds a police unit these days, a case could be made that the LEO had a fear for his life. People who mob or attack police know there will be consequences. Or at least, can have consequences. Who knows anymore with all these woke D.A.s
He didn’t drive through, they surrounded him and he was trying to leave quietly and without a confrontation,
I have zero sympathy for aggressive crowding casualties.
Ya got to love these little city/county fiefdoms, run by backstabbing leftist who turn on a dime on their own cops.
I hope those considering a career in law enforcement are paying attention. I can’t count the number of times in recent years where cops have had to shoot a suspect in clear defensive acts, and they find themselves isolated, targeted, blacklisted, arrested, jailed, financially destroyed by their own employer.
Yup, he should have just pulled over, jumped out of the car (while it was being attacked), and opened fire with his shotgun. That would show them...
I live about 35 minutes from there, and my family is almost dead in the center of this mess. Just a few months ago, Tacoma was proud of “not being like Seattle”. Keeping the Aunt teefa and BLM rioting to a bare minimum. It seems that they have now lost control.
The West coast is about to catch on fire stoked by the hate of Commies. They “colonize” areas 10 miles or so from blue cities, and turn formerly nice places blue too. They have the numbers, and now Biteme is going to build lower cost housing in areas that were formerly quiet and suburban. Of course, equity means only the darkest, gayest, tranniest will get the nearly free housing. They will vote just like they do in Portland and Seattle, and we will drown in the feces and vomit. Our children will have to watch the ground for the castaway needles of the drug addicts.
Looks like you need to make your way to Texas, while you still can.
Call it an “insurrection” and everything will be alright.
I wonder if those from the Mayor on down to the city council are all dumb Democrats re this incident but are all for impeaching Pres. Trump for the Jan. 6th riot at the Capital in DC?
Hypocrisy and stupidity go hand-in-hand and Washington State is one of the capitals of both.
“They made bail with help from community donations.”
They say, “these geeks come a dime a dozen.”
I’m lookin’ for the guy who’s supplyin’ the dimes.
— Classy Freddie Blassie
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