SPD Recklessly Hired a High Risk Cop--Who Killed an Innocent Woman
The Politicians Don't Seem to Mind
Seattle Police Union’s Contempt for Seattle
I recently wrote that “the Feds and Justice Department say Seattle Police are bad outliers.” This is because our department has an unusually rotten reputation for its use of excessive force and history of racialized policing. It remains under federal scrutiny for violence in handling hostile and even peaceful crowds, as well as its refusal to hold bad cops accountable for bad behavior.
Well, a few weeks ago, Andrew Engelson at Publicola broke more nightmarish news. It turns out that the Seattle Police Department knowingly hired a high-risk officer with a history of dangerous driving, who had been fired for misconduct. He then went on to recklessly kill an innocent woman while driving dangerously, on duty.
You may recall that a police officer named Kevin Dave ran over a young woman in a crosswalk in South Lake Union, killing her early last year. He was driving 74 miles per hour in a 25 mph zone, and hit her so hard he threw her body 100 feet.
Image Courtesy of ABC News
The matter became an international scandal when news broke that Mike Solan, the head of Seattle Police Officers Guild, and his right hand man, Daniel Auderer, were caught on tape laughing and making jokes about the dead woman’s “limited value.”
Despite some strained attempts to suggest they were actually laughing and making these horrifying jokes because they were so sorry about what had happened, the damage had been done. This was just months after news broke that Seattle Police kept a mock tombstone of a young black man they had killed in a shootout in their break room.
As we grieved all this as a community, it was hard to imagine that the situation could be any worse.
But it turns out it was worse. Engleson’s investigation uncovered that SPD knew that Kevin Dave was a high risk officer who had problems with erratic behavior, dangerous driving, and poor policing, and that had had been fired for it.
In fact, he was investigated six times at his previous policing job in Tucson, including for two collisions, one of which was deemed “preventable.” The department fired him for misconduct, a tactic that seems not to have made its way north to the Emerald City. After officer Dave was fired, he also appears to have been caught driving drunk, recklessly and without insurance.
All of this was relayed to Seattle Police before Seattle Police hired him. And they hired him anyway.
SPD’s culture of impunity
So to recap: the department
Knew he was a bad officer, who had been fired for being a bad officer, including for driving in ways that put others in danger.
Then they gave him a hiring bonus and brought him into our community.
Then he drove three times the speed limit and killed a young woman.
Then the head of his union laughed about her death on camera.
Nobody was fired.
A few weeks from now, one of the union leaders who found all this so chuckle-worthy will be further embarrassing Seattle by speaking at a traffic safety conference in DC.
These guys (and yes, they are mostly guys–another story for another time) have happily been showing Seattle their middle finger for quite some time.
Manslaughter for thee, but not for SPD
Now let’s remember, when a regular citizen consciously disregards a substantial and justifiable risk, and that causes someone else’s death–we are charged with manslaughter.
If a jury finds that we did this, we go to jail.
But the Seattle Police Department consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk, and it ended in a death. Officer Dave consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk, and it ended in a death.
And nothing of note happens to either of them.
Seattle Police get to keep operating as usual, and yours and my tax dollars are still paying officer Dave.
You see, one reason our department is still one of only a handful in the nation under the thumb of a Federal Judge is because we have almost no meaningful accountability in place for when officers go rogue, use excessive force, abuse citizens or even one another.
Weak Mayor?
This is due to an intransigent union and, most recently, a Mayor and Council who have neither the will nor the stomach to negotiate. In a recent update to the policing contract, the city gave police a huge raise without extracting any meaningful gains when it comes to accountability or governance.
Whether this means they have the negotiating chops of a chinchilla, or would simply prefer that the police play judge, jury, and executioner–is a question for the philosophers.
All I know is that Seattle citizens have consistently said they want a well-staffed, reasonably behaved police department that is accountable to its people, coupled with police alternatives for the thousands of calls where they are not needed.
But this Mayor, this Council, and this Police Union don’t much seem interested.