Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. of the Spokane, Washington police department was convicted in Federal court yesterday of civil rights violations and obstruction of justice.
What did Officer Thompson do? He confronted a man named Otto Zehm in a convenience store. I apologize for the length of this excerpt, but I want to give you a full picture.
Prosecutors said Thompson was acting on a vague report from some teenagers who had seen Zehm behaving in an odd manner at a nearby ATM. They said they weren’t sure whether any money had been taken. It turned out Zehm was probably trying to figure out how to cash his paycheck, which was found in his pocket.
Security video from the convenience store introduced at trial showed Thompson running into the store and drawing his baton as he ran at Zehm from behind. Witnesses testified that Zehm appeared to be unaware that anyone was approaching him as he picked up the soda to purchase.
Less than 2.5 seconds after Zehm turned to see Thompson running toward him, the police officer delivered two baton blows to his head, knocking him backward to the floor, according to the prosecution and witness testimony.
“Witnesses testified that Thompson then stood over the victim and fired Taser probes down into [his] chest as he was in the fetal position on the floor beneath him,” the prosecution said in a statement. “The victim never returned to his feet, but Thompson continued to deliver overhand baton blows, including a final flurry of seven baton strikes in eight seconds.”
Several other officers arrived as backup, and Zehm was hogtied on the floor, his face covered by a plastic mask, purportedly to keep him from spitting at the officers, according to court documents. Within minutes, he stopped breathing. He was revived and hospitalized but never regained consciousness. He was pronounced dead two days later. The cause of death was lack of oxygen to his brain.
Let me repeat that. Thompson hit Zehm twice in the head, knocked him to the ground, tased him while he was down and in a fetal position, and then hit him seven times in eight seconds while he was down and in a fetal position.
But wait! It gets better!
Store security videos contradicted Thompson’s version of the encounter, but Spokane police detectives still cleared him of any criminal wrongdoing and Spokane City Hall continued to back his version of events even as evidence mounted to the contrary.
The FBI later opened its own investigation, leading to grand jury indictments against Thompson in 2009 on charges of excessive force and lying to investigators. Spokane City Hall continued to back Thompson’s version of events, even after learning that Assistant Chief Jim Nicks told federal investigators that Thompson had violated department policy in the encounter with Zehm.
Here’s a timeline of events from the Spokane Spokesman-Review. Reading over it:
- The police initially claimed Zehm had been previously arrested for assaulting a police officer. They retracted this assertion six days later.
- “Thompson describes Zehm as having refused orders to drop a plastic soda bottle, prompting the use of a police baton to ward off an expected assault.” With a plastic soda bottle. “Look out! He’s got a broken milk carton!”
- Detective Terry Ferguson, who investigated the case, did not turn over information to county prosecutors, and omitted information from her report.
- “Zehm’s fingerprints were not found” on the plastic soda bottle the police claimed he was wielding.
- “After learning that some Spokane media outlets are pursuing footage of additional security camera angles, [Acting police chief Jim] Nicks instructs Ferguson to review the tapes again. Within the hour, Ferguson tells Nicks that a fourth camera angle shows Zehm holding a Pepsi bottle, which did not appear in any other camera angle. The video shows Zehm on his back and using the bottle to protect his face from Thompson’s blows.”
And Thompson had the support of the mayor and police chief (not Jim Nicks: just wait):
I’ve looked into the details surrounding this incident,” [Mayor Mary] Verner says in an interview with The Spokesman-Review, “and I just don’t think the behavior of the officer rose to a criminal behavior.” Says [Spokane Police Chief Anne] Kirkpatrick: Thompson “has my unequivocal support. Based on all the information and evidence I have reviewed, I have determined that Officer Karl Thompson acted consistent with the law.”
On the other hand,
Aug. 5, 2011: Documents are filed in U.S. District Court signed by now-Assistant Chief Nicks indicating that Thompson violated several use-of-force policies in his initial contact with Zehm and that the department’s investigation into the fatality was poorly done.
It sure looks to me like Thompson and company beat a man to death for no reason, and then the Spokane PD and city of Spokane tried as hard as they could to cover it up; it took the Feds becoming involved for the whole dirty story to come to light.
The prosecution is apparently asking for six to eight years in prison for Officer Thompson, who is 64 years old. Otto Zehm was 36 years old when the Spokane PD murdered him.