Rantz: Councilmember uses Tommy Le death to bash police — he should resign

Cop-bashing King County Councilmember Joe McDermott is using the controversial death of Tommy Le for political gain. And he’s misquoting an email to do it.

It’s transparent, it’s dangerous, and he should resign. But he won’t. Instead, he’s using the death to smear King County Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht because she offered an email in support of the deputy who shot Le. At a time when politicians like McDermott actively attack cops, emails of support are necessary and appropriate.

McDermott’s motive seems obvious. He can signal his virtue as a white politician in a district with a large number of Asian American voters he thinks will react well to his attacks against cops. Meanwhile, it gets the sheriff he hates out of an office that the council and executive will get to choose a replacement.

What’s worse, McDermott is creating hostility between the communities of color and law enforcement. But does that matter to the councilmember?

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Tommy Le settlement and email

McDermott is feigning outrage over an internal email Johanknecht sent to King County Sheriff’s Office staff. The email was sent after news that King County settled a lawsuit over the death of 20-year-old Le.

The family sued the county after a deputy shot and killed Le in 2017, mistaking a pen for a weapon. At the time, neighbors called 911 on Le, saying he was acting bizarre and threatening people with “a knife or some sort of sharp object.”

According to a toxicology report, Le had LSD in his system at the time. That could explain his alleged behavior described in reports: while barefoot, he was pounding on a homeowner’s door, while declaring himself “the Creator.”

Officers used tasers to subdue the young man, but they were unsuccessful. The deputy shot Le after he says Le advanced on him. The deputy was cleared of wrongdoing.

Johanknecht emailed staff defending the deputy, arguing “he made the tough decisions that sometimes must be made in our profession.” She said she spoke with the deputy and “shared my appreciation of the difficulty of decision (sic) and actions he had to take. I also appreciate the teamwork all contributing members made that night to protect the residents of that neighborhood and the following investigative work.”

She ended by extending her support to the deputies and argued that sometimes, “Proceeding to trial runs the risk of a verdict based on emotion, rather than facts.”

McDermott now claims outrage … via press release! That’s the worst kind of outrage.

Angry McDermott roars

McDermott is demanding the sheriff immediately step down. He says she “ripped the bandage off a still fresh and painful wound in our community” by sending that email. It reads in part:

The email Sheriff Johanknecht sent regarding recent legal developments ignored this reality and was, in the most charitable light one might muster, disrespectful to the young person who was killed, to his family and to our entire community. Dismissing as ‘emotion’ the well documented disproportionate negative impacts policing and systemic racism has had on communities of color across our country, including here in King County, adds insult to injury.

This is a mischaracterization of the email.

While McDermott may be upset that Johanknecht didn’t adopt his political views in the email, it doesn’t dismiss “well documented disproportionate negative impacts policing and systemic racism has had on communities of color.”

The email rightly notes that the current political climate could lead to a ruling on the case that isn’t based on facts. Ironically, she warned about the bias and emotional reaction from a jury that McDermott expresses in his statement.

McDermott, a progressive desperate for the activist praise he so rarely receives, despite committing himself to a career of empty far-left buzzwords, says Johanknecht must resign “to limit the ongoing damage her decisions have inflicted against the trust of our BIPOC neighbors and our entire community.”

Yet when McDermott pushes a lie that implicates all cops as racists looking to kill people of color, it isn’t damaging to the trust?

The sheriff says she’s not resigning. She shouldn’t. McDermott, on the other hand, should.

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Remember when McDermott backed the disrespect of Le’s autopsy?

McDermott is aghast that anyone might say anything that doesn’t honor Le’s tragic death — unless they’re political allies.

At the time the deputy was cleared of wrongdoing, Deborah Jacobs, the director of King County’s Office of Law Enforcement Oversight (OLEO), criticized the KCSO handling of the incident. Jacobs and McDermott were close allies.

The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH broke the story that Jacobs faced a serious complaint lodged by Deputy Jesse Herrera. He said Jacobs commented on the size of a deceased man’s genitalia at the Medical Examiner’s Office during Le’s autopsy.

He says Jacobs saw a nude, deceased man unrelated to the case, waiting for an autopsy. That’s where Herrera complains Jacobs became wildly inappropriate and unprofessional. According to the complaint:

Deborah looked at me and said ‘Did you see the guy with the big penis?’ I told her no as I looked over to the rest of the deceased bodies. She then said, ‘that one, what causes that?’ I saw the deceased body she was talking about and told her it was probably a result of all the blood rushing to the lower part of the body. This made me uncomfortable and I walked away from her …

Herrera told the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH that the comment was “definitely sexual in nature” and made him feel uncomfortable enough to complain to the Sheriff’s Office.

Jacobs didn’t deny some version of the comment was made. But she argued, “I am confident that my tone or language was in no way disrespectful toward the deceased.”

Was McDermott disgusted by this incident? It doesn’t appear so. He was one of the councilmembers who defended her reappointment. I find it odd that he wasn’t disgusted by the disrespect shown to Le and his family the way he was at an internal email by the sheriff that he helped amplify with a statement.

The council voted 5-4 not to reappoint Jacobs.

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McDermott should resign

It’s McDermott who should be the one stepping down. His politicking can create more distrust between communities of color and law enforcement.

I believe McDermott knows what he’s doing here. He’s using the current political climate to go after a sheriff he does not like. Johanknecht has taken heat from activists for not being progressive enough. They expected her to give in to their every whim. She hasn’t. She has been critical of her deputies when she feels they earn ire and has defended the ones she believes are being smeared.

I think politicians like McDermott demand total obedience and when you don’t give it, they lash out. That’s what we’re seeing here. Mix it in with the current climate he’s exploiting and perhaps some payback for how Jacobs was pushed out thanks, in part, to a deputy’s complaint, and it creates the perfect opportunity to puke out a disingenuous press statement for attention.

Well, McDermott got the attention: I just hope people take this opportunity to see him for what he is.

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