© Ted S. Warren / Associated Press
A jury assessed $3 million in punitive damages against Lakewood Police Chief Mike Zaro, finding that his department acted recklessly in the fatal shooting of Leonard Thomas.
A jury assessed $3 million in punitive damages against Lakewood Police Chief Mike Zaro, finding that his department acted recklessly in the fatal shooting of Leonard Thomas.
Comment: Folks, we can't stress this enough: do NOT call 9-1-1 for help from police! There are many options available besides involving the state.
But on Friday, a federal court jury in Seattle unanimously disagreed, handing down one of the most costly legal verdicts against police officers in Washington state history.
Having heard testimony from an officer's after-incident report boasting that the sniper's bullet, fired from 90 yards away, was a "frickin' million-dollar shot," the jury decided to award Thomas' family $15 million.
The seven-member panel awarded the amount to the family in a civil rights lawsuit as a way of saying local police had overreacted to a minor domestic dispute. At least 27 officers from the Pierce County Metro SWAT team and two armored vehicles were sent to the scene after Thomas — who was bipolar, had been drinking and was despondent over a friend's death — refused to leave his house.
Witnesses during the trial described a battleground setting: One armored transport was driven across a neighbor's yard, through a fence, and parked off the back patio of the Thomas home in the town of Fife. The other vehicle, a BearCat personnel carrier, took position at the front of the house.
Comment: Another man killed by police needlessly. We see time and time again, black and mentally ill people are frequently killed by police who are completely ill-equipped to de-escalate tense situations like the above. The only thing they seem to be able to do is kill.