Group calls for video’s release

The president of Washington’s largest mental-health advocacy group wants Spokane Police to immediately release a videotape of a mentally ill man’s fatal encounter with officers.

“The public has a right to know,” said Gordon Bopp, of NAMI-Washington’s board of directors. “Their inclination is to justify what they did. The longer they delay, it just opens up more opportunity for doubt and suspicion.”

Otto Zehm, 36, was hospitalized after police used a Taser and a baton to subdue him at a Zip Trip convenience store on Saturday. He died two days later.

Police say Zehm fought with them at the store. He was unarmed and apparently did not have a criminal record.

Footage from the store’s security cameras reportedly shows the encounter but police are declining to release it, saying it’s evidence in an ongoing investigation. Deputy Chief Al Odenthal said that as part of an internal investigation, there are witnesses visible in the video – one in particular – whom police still want to talk to before the video is released to the public.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office is also investigating.

Zehm’s death is the second time this year someone has died following a scuffle with Spokane law enforcement officers.

A Spokane County Jail inmate died in January after multiple fights with corrections deputies. Benites Sichiro, 39, died of a lacerated liver caused by blunt force to his torso. The investigation results are expected to go to the Spokane County prosecutor’s office within the next two weeks. Sheriff Mark Sterk has said the jailers involved did nothing wrong.

In the more recent case, which occurred March 18, Spokane Police initially said they responded to a call of a man behaving strangely near a cash machine at Division and Augusta, but late this week said the call was actually a report of an attempted or actual robbery.

The first officer to respond to the convenience store was Karl Thompson. The officer has been with the Spokane Police Department for nine years and in law enforcement for 26 ½ years. Before coming to Spokane, he worked at the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, Odenthal said.

The second officer to arrive was Steven Braun Jr. He has been with the department for six years, officials said. Braun’s father, Steven Braun, is a lieutenant at the Spokane Police Department.

One reported witness told a television crew from KXLY that police beat Zehm as he tried “to protect his face.” Acting Police Chief Jim Nicks said there is no evidence that Zehm’s death was attributable to force used by police officers.

Zehm, who was pronounced dead Monday, lived in a North Spokane apartment house with plastic on the windows and peeling paint. Underneath Zehm’s name on his mailbox, someone recently scrawled “Killed by Bad Cops!”

On Friday, fliers left at The Spokesman-Review said police are “getting away with MURDER!”

Carrie Webb, Zehm’s stepsister, said he had a scab on his chin and bruised ribs when she visited him at the hospital.

“I think he was wrongly attacked by police,” Webb said. “You can detain someone without hurting him.”

Her stepbrother, she said, “would never hurt anyone.”

Stephanie Miller, who previously lived in the same apartment complex as Zehm, had frequent encounters with the man she described as a “kind spirit.”

“He used to come over for coffee, and he would do chores for me to make a little extra money,” Miller said. “He seemed a little paranoid. He was slow, sometimes he had to be reminded to do basic stuff like take a shower or clean up his apartment.

“I was never afraid of him, he was never violent in any way,” Miller said. “Even when Zehm seemed out of it, he was never violent. I don’t think the police are telling the whole story.”

Although Zehm did not have a criminal conviction, he was booked into jail in 1990 for investigation of assault and obstructing a law enforcement officer. Although complete records were unavailable Friday, both charges were dismissed. In one of the few available documents on Zehm, he petitioned to change his name in 1990, stating that his name was “too uncommon, a little Bit Unusual.” He asked to change his name to Barry Johnson but later changed it back to Zehm.

Zehm’s medical diagnosis has not been made public, but family members said he received psychiatric care and took medications.

Bopp said it was critical for law enforcement officers to receive training on how to respond during encounters with mentally ill people.

“The arrest itself would have greatly heightened the stress and fear,” Bopp said. “The first thing is to calm them down and work out a way of communicating.”