Dwi Politics Nabs Trooper Officer Near Spokane Reservation Transferred Despite Praise For Work
The Washington State Patrol has punished and transferred one of its troopers for writing too many drunken driving tickets on and near the Spokane Indian Reservation.
Trooper David Fenn, twice honored for getting drunken drivers off the state’s highways, received a disciplinary transfer from Colville to Spokane.
The action came after the Spokane Tribe accused Fenn of racism and civil rights violations by targeting tribal members.
His boss, Sgt. David McMillan, was temporarily moved from Colville to Bremerton in September for allowing Fenn to arrest drunken drivers near the reservation north of Spokane.
The State Patrol’s former Spokane District commander, Capt. Jim LaMunyon, said the trooper and the sergeant disobeyed orders to stay away from the reservation.
The veteran troopers were pulled from their jobs last December, immediately after the Spokane Tribe wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.
The tribe wanted the FBI to “immediately investigate a pattern and practice of repeated civil rights violations perpetrated against tribal members by the Washington State Patrol,” the letter said.
But a 10-month internal investigation failed to document any civil rights violations. One of every five drunken driving arrests made by Fenn involved Native Americans, WSP records show.
U.S. Attorney Jim Connelly, who reviewed WSP’s investigation, now says there was no basis for the tribe’s complaints.
“We don’t see any pattern of civil rights violations here at all,” he said last week.
Spokane tribal leaders met with federal prosecutors in September and indicated they no longer want to pursue the issue, Connelly said.
Tribal leaders Bruce Wynne, David Wynecoop and Jim SiJohn did not return repeated telephone calls seeking comment.
In an interview with State Patrol investigators, SiJohn said the Spokane tribe is a sovereign government with its own police department. “We do not want the State Patrol patrolling our reservation.”
While the investigation failed to document civil rights violations, it did put a cork on State Patrol drunken driving arrests on highways near the reservation.
Since the investigation began last year, not one state trooper has used a breath analyzer machine at Wellpinit, in the center of the reservation, records show. The machine had been frequently used by troopers.
“There’s a reluctance to even work anywhere near the Spokane reservation,” McMillan said. “On some troopers’ part there’s even a fear of stopping Native Americans.”
Fenn made many of his drunken driving arrests on state highways 231, 292 and 25. He also made stops on the Ford-Wellpinit road, a county road that crosses the reservation.
Troopers have jurisdiction on all state highways and county roads, but the state Legislature mandates that troopers spend no more than 10 percent of their time on county roads.
Stevens County Prosecutor Jerry Wetle wrote a letter to the State Patrol chief criticizing the transfers and the Patrol’s decision to avoid the reservation.
“Given the county’s resources, this renders 41 miles of county roads on the reservation without routine law enforcement services,” Wetle wrote.
Besides the transfers, WSP supervisors wanted to dock both Fenn and McMillan 10 days’ pay. The agency backed off after the two men filed appeals.
McMillan was reassigned after he agreed to drop his union appeal and give up four vacation days.
Fenn is appealing a letter that says his transfer was disciplinary. “I’ve done nothing wrong,” he said.
State Patrol Chief Annette Sandberg said her command staff made the disciplinary decisions, and she supports them. She said she hasn’t read the investigative file.
Sandberg couldn’t estimate the cost of the investigation, but defended how long it took.
“We wanted to make sure we were very thorough,” she said. “It would be even more traumatic if these troopers were hauled in by the FBI for a criminal investigation.”
Sandberg said the investigation convinced her that “we do not have a pattern and practice of abusive conduct toward the Spokane Tribe.”
She referred other questions to LaMunyon, who recently was promoted from Spokane to the State Patrol’s No. 3 command position in Olympia.
LaMunyon said he made the decision to move Fenn and McMillan immediately after the tribe wrote the letter.
“These were fairly serious allegations on the part of the tribe,” LaMunyon said. “We had to pull these troopers out of that environment.”
LaMunyon said he doesn’t regret the decision, although he now agrees the accusations were baseless.
“The Spokane Tribe is a sovereign nation, and they don’t want us working their roads,” LaMunyon said. “But I don’t believe we went out deliberately targeting or harassing members of the Spokane Tribe.”
Fenn and McMillan told State Patrol internal investigators they believe their transfers were politically motivated.
“As a result of this inquiry, I’ve lost a great deal of respect for State Patrol management,” Fenn said in an interview last week.
“The tribe’s letter makes false complaints and contains lies,” he said. “The Patrol responded to be politically correct.”
SiJohn, vice chairman of the Spokane Tribe, urged the State Patrol to transfer Fenn to Western Washington “where there is someone to watch him all the time.”
“We believe Fenn has demonstrated a prejudice towards Indian people by patrolling the reservation and singling them out, supposedly contrary to his superiors’ orders,” SiJohn told investigators.
“The Tribal Council does not want this situation with Fenn to escalate where he would get hurt,” SiJohn said.
In a separate interview with investigators, tribal official Wynecoop said McMillan wouldn’t return a telephone call to talk about Fenn.
“The impression I got was McMillan did not give a damn and that was a sign of disrespect for the Spokane Tribe of Indians,” Wynecoop said.
Tribal members, he said, “are paranoid about the State Patrol because of the continuous harassment by Fenn.”
Investigators located one trooper who claimed he heard Fenn refer to the Spokane Tribal Council as a “bunch of jerks” at a meeting of troopers. But Fenn and McMillan deny that occurred.
“My biggest criticism of the investigation is the length of it,” said WSP Troopers Association president Bill Hanson.
“Going through one of these investigations for a trooper is one of the most traumatic times in their life,” Hanson said. “Some liken it to going through a divorce, and some say it’s even worse.”
Hanson said the Troopers Association “has no problem with WSP investigating complaints against our troopers to keep our public confidence high.
“But when the agency gets into a case like this, where’s there no clear evidence of any violations, they should say, ‘Enough is enough, there’s nothing here,’ and close the book.”
Hanson said troopers are told to stay off the Spokane Reservation, except to investigate fatal accidents, which frequently involve alcohol.
“We, as troopers, shouldn’t just be coming out there to pick up the pieces and the bodies,” he said. “We should be trying to get at drunk drivers who are causing many of these accidents.”
Fenn is one of the State Patrol’s leading producers of drunken driving arrests. He arrested 137 drunken drivers in 1995 and 103 in 1996, records show.
This year, Fenn said, even with the the transfer and the internal affairs investigation, he likely will make 140 drunken driving arrests.
For his work, he was cited in 1995 and 1996 by the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission and Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD).
In those years, he wrote more drunken driving tickets than any of the 67 troopers assigned to the State Patrol’s Spokane District office. He also made 50 felony drug arrests in 1995 after stopping traffic violators.
“He’s a whirlwind out there,” one trooper said. “Why punish one of the highest-producing DWI troops and put the reins on him?”
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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: COMMENDATION The Washington Traffic Safety Commission cited State Patrol Trooper David Fenn in 1996 “for excellence in law enforcement.” The citation said: “Trooper Fenn is dedicated to removing impaired drivers from our highways. He was responsible for 137 out of the 212 DWI’s arrested by the eight trooper detachment. He arrested 50 out of 55 drug arrests. “Trooper Fenn has been working out of the Colville detachment in Stevens County. Prior to his arrival, the record number of DWI arrests was about 40. “The average number of traffic violator contacts made in 1995 was 1,319. Trooper Fenn made 2,297. Many of these arrests take hours to process, book the prisoner and complete the paperwork, taking the officer off the road. “Trooper Fenn takes every opportunity to talk to young people about drinking, driving and the tragedy that often results when they are combined. Without a doubt, his dedication is saving lives.”