Now the family of Daniel Covarrubias, shot dead by Lakewood Police when officers thought the cell phone he was holding was a gun, is suing the Lakewood Police Department (LPD).
According to the April 13, 2018 Seattle Times story by Mike Carter, the federal suit claims “Covarrubias fell victim to the same aggressive police tactics that resulted in a $15.3 million civil-rights verdict against Lakewood police.”
“One of the largest punitive awards ever in Washington State for police use-of-force and wrongful death,” (Seattle Times, May 27, 2015) found in favor of the family of Leonard Thomas who was killed by a Lakewood Police sniper – a member of the Pierce County Metro SWAT team – during a May 2013 standoff in Fife.
Two years later, April 21, 2015, Covarrubias would suffer a similar fate.
No doubt again – as with Thomas, so now with Covarrubias – there will be those who make light of the whole matter, questioning whether these so-called wrongful deaths are nothing more than “money grabbling lawyers suing the deep pocket police department or city for civil and punitive damages.”
There are, however, one would think, questions of a more serious nature, questions requiring actual thought and reflection – if not confrontation – as to why this is yet another lethal-use-of-deadly-force headline.
But, as far as the public knows, those questions don’t appear to be approaching anywhere near the level of scrutiny they deserve.
Especially by those most responsible to ask them.
In the just-released Lakewood City Council meeting minutes for this past April 2, (p.009) Police Chief Mike Zaro provided an overview of the activities of the Police Department in 2017.
What did the Council ask?
“What can the Council do to help Police (economic development to change neighborhoods, and getting message out)”?
“Would additional funding for community service officers and neighborhood patrol officers assist with neighborhood associations”?
“Would having more Police presence at the Lakewood Chamber” be a good idea?
Animal control of off-leash dogs was discussed with the Chief.
But was there anything – at all – in those minutes concerning questions about control of the Police Department itself?
No there was not.
At least there were some ‘fireworks’ discussed with Zaro at the February 7, 2018 (same packet) meeting of the Public Safety Advisory Committee.
Unfortunately, the ‘fireworks’ concerned moving the discussion of sparklers, etc. from June to March on the PSAC agenda.
Still, Zaro was asked to “address questions regarding the lawsuit.”
But, as to the Public Safety Advisory Committee, “no one had any questions.”
So, there were no answers.
But there needs to be.
Answers to questions like these:
Why has Lakewood been a member – the last 13 years – of Metro Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), “a multi-jurisdictional police task force comprised of several Pierce County municipalities,” all while that agency has been without “an established financial management plan that monitors the allocation of resources per member jurisdiction”?
Why does not Lakewood’s Police Department, or the Lakewood City Council for that matter, demand “fiscal transparency of Metro SWAT” which both admit does not exist?
Why was the LPD in charge of the operation the night Thomas was killed in Fife, a debacle that has placed Lakewood in the crosshairs of “one of the largest punitive awards ever in Washington State for police use-of-force and wrongful death”?
Questions such as these – far more important now that Lakewood will again find itself in federal court – are what 60,665 residents in Lakewood should be asking.
More so than “how to pay off the financial judgment” (p.16).
Everyone wants to blame the police for their getting killed, but the truth is it’s their own fault. When police say drop whatever is in their hand, you drop it. When they say get down on the ground, you get down. It doesn’t take common sense to know you listen to the police or there will be consequences. So instead of crying out some racist BS when you know it wasn’t about race, try looking at the real side of it. Drop what you have in your hands and get down. Simple enough to save your own life..
Exactly!
Oh we can just ask police to be better at their job and not shoot people regardless of skin color.
We hire police officers to protect us and then when they do, we sue them. What can we do to help them, you ask. Here’s one suggestion: When a police officer tells you to do something…DO IT! How about sending THIS VERY MESSAGE to all schools, all civic meetings, put ads on tv, articles in newspapers, on billboards, posters in bars, pot shops and the like, shout it from the rooftops…anywhere necessary to reach low-life’s who think they can do whatever they please. Disobey a police office officer and suffer the consequences. Law abiding citizens know this, but the message isn’t getting out to the people who need it most. This seems like a simple solution to everyone’s problem. I don’t think this is a racial problem, either. I see it as a break the laws problem…. doesn’t matter what color you are, if you break the laws, you suffer the consequences.
Mr. Anderson,
Here we go again is right. Another greedy family led down the pathway of scamming cities and police departments out of ridiculous amounts of money based on the decisions of uninformed ignorant juries.
Here are some more questions. The first few questions should be asked by the lawyer. Did the person killed do anything to cause the police to use lethal force? Was this incident a suicide by cop? Was the end result of the incident driven by the decedent’s actions or failure to act? If the decedent caused the incident to escalate, an honest lawyer should turn down the case. That is hard to do, because a lawyer stands a good chance of milking the incident for a lot of money. That is the greed factor for the lawyer.
Was the decedent the product of an unwed mother abandoned by the father producing a child who never learned respect or compliance with lawful rules and orders issued by parents, teachers and the police?
Did the decedent fail to comply?
Does the jury and public know any thinking person can be put in fear of their life if an “unarmed man” points a cell phone? Does the jury and public know cell phones can serve as 4 – round 22 caliber handguns? Cops know.
There is no time to hesitate for either the suspect or the police officer. “Drop the gun / cell phone / bat / knife or I will shoot. The suspect should not hesitate if he wishes to not be shot. The officer should not hesitate if the suspect fails to comply if the officer does not wish to die on the job.
Does the jury or public remember the TPD officer who was shot and killed when he hesitated because he thought the suspect, who refused to drop his gun, was out of ammo? The suspect and the cop’s hesitation generated an unnecessary cop funeral. The gun, ammo, and color of the suspect’s skin were not the issue. The suspect’s failure to comply was the issue. The TPD officer should have shot the suspect. He did not. He died.
Had I been on scene and the suspect failed to drop his gun, I would have shot him. I do not care if the suspect is white, Black, Asian or??? Drop the gun or I will shoot. How hard is that to understand?
Here is the deal. If Black lives, white lives, Asian lives or any lives matter, someone needs to teach all of these people not to run from the police and to comply with their lawful orders. If they do that, nobody gets hurt.
If there is a rogue cop out there using citizens for target practice, then by all means sue for big bucks and put the cop in jail.
If cops are shooting people because the citizen fails to comply and the suspect’s failure puts others lives in danger, than they, not the police are responsible for the end result. Comply or die.
Richard, you got it right.
Joseph Boyle
There is such a thing as confrontation management which police sometimes lack in their interaction with the public. When police intentionally elevate confrontation to the point where killing someone is the “only” option (it’s seldom the “only” option) then the police are part and parcel of the problem. The non-instantaneous compliance of an individual with the aggressive barked command of a police officer with guns drawn should not become a death sentence. “Let me see your license and registration” “BANG!” How fast is fast enough? People do not deal with this kind of sudden unexpected potentially deadly threat on a daily basis and to expect instantaneous compliance is unrealistic. No one practices this in anticipation of getting confronted by police. Add to the mix the subject’s emotional state, mental health and diminished capacity (drugs, alcohol, etc.) and you have a situation where police must be trained that discretion is the better part of valor. Until then, we will see more and more over reaction by police when much of this would be unnecessary if police were better negotiators than crack shots.
Very well put John! I concur with you. Keep it up…….
Mr. Arbeeny,
Some people are not brought up right, educated enough, or bright enough to know when a police officer points a gun at you, quick compliance is a great way to live another day. From personal experience I can tell you that many suspects are willing to argue for ever without doing what they are told.
Are you personally willing to stand in front of a drunken drug crazed mentally disabled law breaker while he or she refuses to comply with your negotiation effort? Keep that up and you will end up in the E.R. or 6′ under.
All of my law abiding friends know the value of instantaneous compliance when ordered to execute a lawful order from a police officer.
I have had several justifiable opportunities to shoot someone including in my home before I was a police officer. Shooting someone is not something I ever wanted to do.
I can tell you this. If I confront a burglar in my home, he or she needs to know that when I point a gun at them, I am the boss in my own home just like the police officer is the boss out in the street or where ever he or she finds a suspect. If things have deteriorated badly enough that the police are called, then the police officer is in charge even inside a private home.
If the citizen has not been taught by his parents, teachers, and society to comply instantly and the police officers fail to take action instantly then we are going to attend more officer funerals.
I know you are an intelligent man. What you lack is an accurate understanding based on real world police street experience of the dynamics of these kinds of situations. You obviously have not walked in a police officer’s Danners.
If you ever find yourself on scene, I predict it will be easy for you to say to yourself, “That man is acting stupidly or is suicidal.
Most cops are not out to beat up or shoot anyone. If you look carefully you will find a failure to comply behind every use of force. That is where it starts.
Even if I am wrong and you are right, compliance still solves the problem and nobody dies.
Comply or die.
We’ll said John. It gives me a little hope hearing that from a former Council member and Deputy Mayor. My question, and should be with every Lakewood citizen, is why are the current council members, mayor and city manager going out of their way to continually protect a chief that has proven himself numerous times to be a liability who acts with callous and malice intent on behalf of their police department? At this point I’d be looking at them as well. They have also become a liability to the city by continuously putting their interests above that if their citizens. Sounds like we need to hire a janitor to clean house. Chief Farrar enabled Zero to do whatever he wanted which is evident by the number of lawsuits I have seen in the news from the time he was promoted to AC. Maybe the city management needs to be independently investigated. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Chief Farrar and Chief Zaro are two of the finest, most honest, intelligent, dedicated and knowledgeable men you could ever hope to have managing our city police force.
The problem here is not Farrar or Zaro, the problem is bad behavior, poor decision making, and greed on the part of citizens, which when combined create a stench that unfairly descends upon our police administration and city council.
If you Alyssa could sit in the chief’s chair, it would not take long before you would be accused of being rotten in Denmark or maybe rotten in Lakewood. You can’t do the chief’s job or the street cops job without backlash.
It is virtually impossible for even the most dedicated man or woman to work in law enforcement without false accusations and lawsuits. Can’t be done unless the officer spends the entire shift in the donut shop. If the cop spends 8 hours eating donuts rather than protecting and serving, then they are not dedicated.
What is rotten is a court system that will produce a $15 million dollar verdict after a police department does what they need to do to make certain an out of control parent does not snuff a small boy’s life. Yes, parents kill their young. No one wants to admit that.
Now we have a copy-cat lawsuit.
While I have a different street level viewpoint than you, you are right about one thing, Something is rotten in Denmark.
America needs to wake up and we need to support our police or one day when you dial 911, they will not come.
Joseph Boyle
Another simple way to put it is: you drink, you do drugs and the excuse in popular use today, are in a mental crisis. Who is responsible for using drugs, and drunkenness which leads to the “mental crisis”? Constant cases of irresponsibly and one for which everyone pays one way or another. Stop blaming the police for doing their jobs and put the blame on the person responsible, The perpetrator. This cycle in today’s America is really getting old and I for one have no sympathy anymore for the so called victims.