First Case Pits Citizens Panel Against Mangan Commission Wants Investigation Of Complaint Dismissed By Police Chief

A citizens panel has recommended that a special counsel be appointed to investigate a vegetable farmer’s brutality complaint against a Spokane police detective.

Police Chief Terry Mangan, who previously had cleared the officer of wrongdoing, said Monday the recommendation from the Citizens Review Commission is inappropriate and the committee is overstepping its bounds.

“I have a real difficulty with that kind of process,” Mangan told members of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, who will decide what to do with the recommendation.

Too bad, said Michael Holmes, a member of the review board.

“If he’s upset by our decision, that’s too bad, but that’s our decision,” Holmes said.

City Councilman Jeff Colliton, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, told Mangan to expect a letter requesting further review of the matter.

“We unanimously, and I stress unanimously, agree with the findings of the Citizens Review Commission,” Colliton said. “What we’re looking for here is facts.”

Four of the six members of the Review Commission believe the unnamed officer was wrong when he pulled Davenport, Wash., resident Christopher Ostrander from a minivan on Jan. 23, according to a memorandum the commission sent to the Public Safety Committee.

The detective, assigned to the Spokane Regional Drug Task Force at the time, followed Ostrander to Airway Heights after seeing him near a suspected drug house in the Valley.

He said Ostrander ran a red light, refused to get out of the minivan, then resisted arrest.

Ostrander faces criminal charges of obstructing a public servant, failing to obey an officer and driving with a suspended license.

But the Davenport resident said the officer did not show identification and began roughing him up without giving him a chance to answer questions.

The review commission, by a 4-1 vote, sided with Ostrander. It was the newly created board’s first case.

“The finding of the majority was that there is a preponderance of evidence showing the officer named in the complaint did not give Mr. Ostrander the opportunity to exit the vehicle of his own accord,” the Rev. Lonnie Mitchell, commission chairman, wrote in a Sept. 5 memorandum. “We find that the officer’s forcible removal of Mr. Ostrander was a use of excessive force.”

Mayor Jack Geraghty appointed the commission earlier this year so people who aren’t satisfied with the way the Police Department handles complaints against officers have a place to appeal.

Ostrander originally took his complaint to the Police Department. Mangan, after reviewing an internal affairs report on the incident, ruled that the officer was justified in using force.

He stood by that decision Monday.

“There is no new evidence in this case,” Mangan said. “This will not change that.”

The city may be setting itself up for an unfair labor complaint or a possible lawsuit if it allows the review commission to continue on its present course, the chief added.

Mangan said the commission’s role is to oversee his handling of internal affairs investigations, not to investigate the actions of individual officers.

Holmes disagreed.

“It’s unfortunate he feels that way, because we think our decision falls within our guidelines,” he said.

City Councilwoman Roberta Greene said she doesn’t want the commission to become a makeshift court.

“At the same time, there needs to be some vehicle to review the case when there is a disagreement,” Greene said.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S NEXT? The Review Commission and Public Safety Committee are scheduled to hold a joint meeting next month to discuss the commission’s role.