Jury finds Bellevue cops justified in shooting felon in Seattle

A jury Thursday found Bellevue Police officers had reason to believe that an armed robbery suspect they shot in a Seattle neighborhood last year presented an imminent threat of death or bodily harm.

The six-member King County inquest jury answered 29 interrogatories, or questions about the fatal confrontation. The key questions asked about the three officers who fired read, in part: “did he have reason to believe that Russell Smith, 51, presented an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to himself or others?” All six jurors answered “yes.”

Smith family attorney Fred Diamondstone questioned the officers’ tactics saying police could have served their arrest warrant without using lethal force.

“I think Mr. Smith could have been contacted and arrested at work without incident, I think Mr. Smith could have been contacted and evidence obtained from him at his parole or community corrections officer’s office without incident,” said Diamondstone after the verdict.

Bellevue Police were looking to arrest the paroled felon when they converged on a house in the Columbia City neighborhood about 5 a.m. on March 22, 2013. As officers moved in on foot, what they discovered was a Mercedes Benz, linked to their suspect, engine running in the driveway with somebody inside.

“It was backed up, rapidly, ran into the parked truck, sort of lifted that truck up and moved it into the position we see here, right?” asked Bellevue Police attorney Andy Cooley during an inquest hearing earlier this week.

“Yes, sir,” answered Seattle Police detective Jefferey Mudd, who led the investigation of the police shooting.

“The Mercedes was then put into drive and began to drive forward before the shots were fired, right?”

“Yes, sir,” was again Mudd’s response.

Three Bellevue police officers, Casey Hiam, Jacob Bement and Jacob Childers all fired on the Mercedes. Mudd described in court what was shown in photos taken of the aftermath, offered as evidence at the inquest.

“You’re looking at bullet strikes to the windshield of the Mercedes, the passenger side window was missing, was blown out, I believe the same was true of the driver’s side,” offered Mudd. He testified there was a delay from the time the Mercedes backed into the pickup truck and then shifted gears and drove toward officers.

“The report said 1.6 seconds,” testified Mudd.

Detective Mudd told jurors he confiscated the officers’ weapons, a handgun and two rifles and counted rounds of ammunition to determine that 21 shots were fired, three from Bemet’s rifle, six from Hiam’s handgun and 12 more from Childers’ rifle.

Diamondstone questioned whether Smith could have known, in the darkness, that the people moving in on him were police officers. Detective Mudd testified that the lettering spelling out “POLICE” on the officers SWAT uniforms was black on green khaki, and not reflective. Mudd told the jury he photographed the officers back at the police station to show what they were wearing that day but did not take photos of the uniforms at the scene.

“Why was no effort made to take photographs of the uniforms, at night in that neighborhood? asked Diamondstone.

“That’s not our general procedure,” was Mudd’s response.

One of the interrogatories to the jury asked: “was it likely that any individuals in the area would have been able to see that the Bellevue police officers outside the residence were dressed in police SWAT uniforms?” The jurors answered unanimously that they were “unsure.”

Otherwise, the juror’s answers supported the police version of events that morning.

Some neighbors questioned police tactics in the service of what detective Mudd called a “high risk” warrant. Bellevue police chief Linda Pillo issued a statement a couple of weeks after the shooting saying the warrants were served in the early morning hours, a time of day when there is “the least amount of impact on the neighborhoods.”

The press release pointed out that the death was the first linked to a Bellevue SWAT operation.