When knife-wielding suspect arrested in U District, police faced deadly use-of-force decision

Once again, Seattle police were faced with a difficult decision on the use of force.

Last week, officers confronted a man in the University District carrying two large knives. The case highlights the challenges officers face when they choose non-lethal options to deal with a deadly threat.

It took a while for officers to track down the man with the nine-inch chef’s knives last Thursday. By then University of Washington police, SPD crisis team officers and a tactical squad were in the area.

Detective Patrick Michaud said commands to drop the knives weren’t working.

“One of the UW officers (Tased) the suspect, but it either doesn’t work very well or the suspect is able to cut the wires before he’s incapacitated by the Taser,” explained Michaud.

It’s not an unfamiliar situation. How many times have we heard crime stories that read, “The Taser did not stop the attacker” or “the pepper spray had no effect?”

“That’s why we have tool belts, though,” said Michaud. “We have multiple options at our disposal. So if pepper spray doesn’t work on one suspect, we have options. We have a Taser, we have a baton. We have our voice, as well.”

Eventually, one Seattle officer took a shot at the suspect.

“Apparently there was a threat that that officer felt her life was threatened, or another officer’s life was in danger,” he said.

But the shot missed and the suspect ran off.

This time, however, after using lethal force, police were able to corner the suspect again, and able to deescalate the situation. Their next move was to use non-lethal force – rubber bullets – to stop the man.

“Even once you work all the way up to lethal force, you can work back down, too […],” said Michaud. “When the incident kind of took a step down, they used less lethal force to change the person’s behavior. I think that’s the takeaway from this.”

The man was arrested, and Michaud admitted it could have ended much differently. “The guy was out there waving knives around, he could have easily been shot and killed.”

According to Michaud, police are always considering new, more effective forms of non-lethal force. But unlike other agencies, the SPD is not persuaded to reconsider variations on the discredited vascular neck restraint, or sleeper hold.