Citizens panel won’t act on complaint

After holding closed-door talks for two weeks in a row, Spokane’s Citizens Review Commission decided Tuesday it didn’t have the authority after all to hear a complaint about the conduct of a Spokane Police Department lieutenant – tossing out the case in front of a few bewildered and angry citizens.

The six-member commission met in executive session for less than an hour and then voted in public to ditch the complaint of Bob DeMotte, forwarded on Sept. 22 by Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, who had promised that her department would be “open, transparent and accountable.”

A Spokesman-Review reporter unsuccessfully protested the executive session, saying the meeting should have been held in public.

When commissioners reconvened at 4:22 p.m., at-large commissioner Douglas Puckett, an attorney, said they could not act because a city ordinance says a citizen may bring a complaint only when the police chief fails to take disciplinary action against an officer – significantly narrowing the scope of the complaint process.

Before Kirkpatrick took over the department last month, Acting Police Chief Jim Nicks gave Lt. Judi Carl a one-day suspension for “conduct unbecoming” – for her use of foul language during a late-night confrontation in north Spokane between homeowner Danny Roske and several teenagers, including two of Carl’s children. Roske pointed an unloaded gun at the teenagers and later pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor for threatening them.

DeMotte, who said he got involved because his Shadle Park neighborhood has also been plagued by vandalism, filed a lengthy amended complaint Friday with the city attorney’s office, including statements from neighbors who witnessed the confrontation. The statements were not part of the Police Department’s internal investigation; DeMotte said they support neighbors’ claims that Carl threatened Roske.

Commissioner Marie Yates, 83, who represents the police captains and lieutenants on the panel, angrily asked why “someone from California” was allowed into last week’s executive session to discuss the case. DeMotte, a retired author, replied that he’s lived in Spokane for three years and was invited to address the commission last week at the invitation of its chairman, the Rev. Lonnie Mitchell.

Two police internal affairs investigators, Lt. Dave Richards and Sgt. Jim Faddis, also participated in the closed-door talks.

The police did not do a thorough job investigating what happened that night, DeMotte said in an interview.

“They investigated only half the story – not what the rest of the neighbors had to say – and they tried to bring four felony charges of assault against Danny Roske,” DeMotte said.

In the end, none of that mattered. The commissioners voted unanimously to reject the case.

“We have no jurisdiction to hear the matter at all … we can’t proceed further,” said retired Judge Richard Richard. He and Puckett walked out while DeMotte and other citizens tried to protest the decision.

“You didn’t even read my report,” DeMotte said. “The citizens of Spokane have been taken one more time.”