Spokane7
61°
October 24, 2009 in City
Zehm tape raises doubts
Lawyers say 911 call doesn’t back police
Attorneys for Otto Zehm are questioning the city of Spokane’s claim that the woman whose call to 911 prompted his fatal 2006 encounter with police said she thought Zehm was on drugs.
Court documents filed Friday by attorneys for the Center for Justice echo a complaint raised Wednesday in a hearing on the civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of Zehm’s mother, Ann Zehm, against the city and several police officers. The city’s claim that a witness said Zehm is “on something” is unsubstantiated by a tape of the 911 call provided by the city to the news media in July 2006.
The city made its claim about being told Zehm was “on something” in a response to the lawsuit filed last June, as it sought to defend the actions of Officer Karl Thompson and other officers who responded to the suspicious behavior call. Officers confronted Zehm in a Zip Trip convenience store after two young women erroneously reported that he tried to rob them at a nearby ATM.
The unarmed 36-year-old Spokane man was beaten with a baton, shocked with a Taser and left “hogtied” on the floor. He lost consciousness at the scene and later died in a hospital.
In June, the city asked the federal court to deny the Zehm claim, contending that he was responsible for the incident that led to his death and officers were justified in their actions. One of the reasons, the city said in its “affirmative defenses,” was that they had reason to believe he was on drugs because of the 911 call.
“The caller was asked … ‘Did he seem high or intoxicated?’ ” city attorneys wrote in the June filing. “The caller responded … ‘I don’t think he was drunk. He’s on something.’ ”
The dispatcher told officers “the complainant thinks he appears to be high,” the city said in its court papers.
But a copy of the recorded 911 call released to the news media by police in July 2006 contains no such discussion between the dispatcher and the witness regarding Zehm’s possible intoxication. That recording has two apparent gaps where there’s no talking or background noise. In one spot, the recording, which carries a notation that it’s “redacted,” also includes a loud tone to obscure the name and birth date of the woman calling 911.
The recording released to the news media is apparently the same recording supplied to the Center for Justice.
“The City did not provide any explanation for the existence of two versions of the 911 recording,” Jeffry Finer, an attorney for the center, wrote in Friday’s court filing.
Finer raised questions about the tape at a hearing Wednesday regarding witness testimony: “We’ve been put at a disadvantage at every turn on this. I had no idea I had a 911 tape that wasn’t accurate.”
Finer said the city faces two separate problems if it supplied an incomplete tape without explaining why some parts are missing. One is that it’s failing to provide evidence needed for the trial; the other is that it could be found in violation of the state’s public records act, which carries fines for each day a public record is improperly withheld.
City Attorney Howard Delaney and Deputy City Attorney Rocky Treppiedi could not be reached for comment.
The city also filed documents Friday in federal court, asking that some of the lawsuit’s claims for damages filed under state law be dismissed because the statute of limitations had passed. Documents filed a few hours later by Zehm’s attorneys seek to counter that argument and raise questions about other evidence not supplied by the city, including pages from a notepad by acting police Chief Jim Nicks, who said on the night of the incident that Zehm “lunged” at Thompson when he was confronted in the store.
Videotape from the store later showed that Zehm did not lunge at Thompson.
Romney/Paul split weighing on county GOP 
Rifleman__Dodd on October 24 at 12:14 a.m.
Sad but funny that the SPD taints everything they touch.
Every time there’s a relevation I ask “Can it get any worse”? and it does. I think they should be giving the 911 operators a drug test.
Verbal on October 24 at 12:20 a.m.
…and the curse of Jimmy Marks lives on….
ibsober on October 24 at 2:31 a.m.
How disturbimg is this? “he was on something..” This is part of their justification to treat a citizen in this manner??
Wasn’t the officer that shot shonto pete ” on something” when he chased a man through a nieghborhood randomly firing his weapon?
One incident they condemn a man for “bieng on something” to a death sentence and the other incident they defend the man “on something” who shot A CITIZEN IN THE HEAD!
Am I the only one noticing this?
A mother has lost her son in a tragic event and not one of our officers is acting in a honerable or honest way.
We all expect lawyers to dissemble and twist the truth; BUT DONT WE ALL EXPECT MORE FROM OUR POLICE OFFICERS?
schleufer on October 24 at 5:24 a.m.
sometimes its harder to trust a cop than a politician. no matter what they wear to work they all are still just people and that means they are liable to be just as dishonest, in this case even more. if any of us ttied to cover up evidence of a death of someone they would lock us up and throw away they key.
pjc09 on October 24 at 7:08 a.m.
The police are guilty so they should just admit it and spare the family and the taxpayers any more pain and taxpayer money. Everyone involved in this cover-up should be thrown in jail, fired w/o any benefits of any kind or if entitled to any benefits, the police should be ordered to forfeit their benefits to the family of Otto Zehm.
To Verbal - There is no such thing as a curse of Jimmy Marks and if you believe there is, then you are just as whacked as the Markses and others who believe in such hogwash.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on October 24 at 7:23 a.m.
The buck stops at Mayor Verner’s desk…. and its more than a few bucks here…. john
Pat O'Leary on October 24 at 7:26 a.m.
Apparently they didn’t get the opportunity to erase the tape as in the mysterious disappearance of the Shonto Pete 911 tape. Although, they speak of parts being redacted for the protection of the witnesses’ names…..or possibly, to conceal more evidence of Thompson’s culpability in Otto’s death. The problem we have now, is the total lack of trust of the SPD. They can virtually be suspect in any aspect of this case. This will come to hurt the police in cases well into the future. They are creating a climate of mistrust that will destroy their credibility in all cases, not just this one. Once the police lie to cover the truth, can they ever be trusted again? Maybe,,,maybe not?
It would behoove the honest cops of this city, to stop the cheerleading for the bad-apples that are totally destroying the image of honesty and trust that is so necessary for a police department to function. Very sad what has happened to our police department the last few years and I don’t think the Mayor or the Chief, or the rank and file, are doing much to correct the problems.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on October 24 at 7:35 a.m.
With statements and actions the mayor and the chief and the rank and file are making the problems worse…. what a sad state of affairs… perhaps there are more problems inside the department than we can imagine..
junior1976 on October 24 at 7:45 a.m.
I agree with Pat Oleary and IBSober. There are so many indescrepencies and every one of them is blatant with no attempt of truthfulness coming from the SPD.
Good point on the Shonto Pete case. Wasnt that intoxicated officer who, off duty, ran through Peaceful Vallry firing shots through a residential neighborhood acquited?
Are the rules really that different for the “men in blue”.
Are we now at the point where we must fear the individuals that WE pay to protect us? What an oxymoron… emphasis on the moron.
chefxh on October 24 at 7:49 a.m.
Crazy. Settle, already,
liarsinnews on October 24 at 8:52 a.m.
Poor Otto. How the Mayor can live with herself without telling her Chief to get with the program I`ll never understand. Who the hell makes the tough decisions at city hall? The SPD good officers are painted with the same brush as the thugs that beat up OTTO. And the law firm on the 5th floor of city hall with Rocky Treppiedi filing law suits against good honest citizens who happen to sue the city is appalling. Treppiedi is on record as saying the public receives too much information.
Scoutster on October 24 at 9:50 a.m.
Isn’t one of the chief Cardinal Rules “No Lying”?
lewis8457 on October 24 at 10:39 a.m.
Since when does being intoxicated allow someone to be killed? The cops make a hundred grand a year now days but have less work to do. Instead of learning communication skills they simply shoot you.
The city purposely dragged their feet on this issue to let limitations run out as their defense. It makes me sick I live in a city like this.
lewis8457 on October 24 at 10:43 a.m.
I hope the feds nail Thompson and his murdering buddies to the wall.
westside on October 24 at 11:08 a.m.
“City Attorney Howard Delaney and Deputy City Attorney Rocky Treppiedi could not be reached for comment. ”
They are all huddled around in ‘der bunker!!!
Lulubelle on October 24 at 11:18 a.m.
Set an example & save the City taxpayers some money………admit SPD wrongdoing…..settle the Zehm case………bring charges against Thompson…convict him & send him on his way……fire Treppiedi & Delaney.
Bob_Knows on October 24 at 3:35 p.m.
The whole lot of the violent gang that beat poor Mr. Zehm to death should be caught and hung. A fair trial would take them out and hang the lot of them at dawn.
Of course we don’t expect justice in Spokane. We have Herhonor the Mayoress, Ms. Chief Gun Thug, and a bevy of lying scum in ties keeping justice from being done.
Even a vote for 1033 is only a small step in the right direction.
ibsober on October 24 at 5:46 p.m.
I have an idea, let’s mandate drug testing for our city and state employeess ! ! I wonder how many would turn out to be ” ON SOMETHING”… seems to me, a few years back that very idea was put out there and the police guild reacted in a very aggresive manner AGAINST it. Now do we have to wonder why? I think they all are smokin something! WE SAW THE VIDEO TAPE!!!! Do you really expect us to not believe our own eyes???
ChefGus/ John Olsen on October 24 at 6:09 p.m.
the “drug” that needs to be tested for is “Anabolic Steroids/Testosterone”… there is no way a 60 year old man can have the body of Officer Thompson without pumping up with steroids… and steroids cause/effect rage and aggression ….. lots of studies on that with body builders… i’ve asked for that for three years on these blogs… pretty easy to find in a urine test if my memory serves well…. dr john
Shane0312 on October 26 at 2:36 p.m.
Of course the city will lie about this, but make no mistake, they could care less about what happens to Robocop, its all about how much money the city will have to shell out to settle this. The police in this town like many others are prone to protecting their own. A”good ol boys” club. If ANY citizen acted in this manor, they would be in prison, hand a guy a badge and a gun and suddenly he is above the law. Sign me up. I wish I could run for mayor, whoever does shouldnt have much of a hard time convincing spokane that the current one is looney toons.
Ron_the_Cop on October 27 at 3:03 a.m.
Folks can read my two cents here:
http://friendsofmarkfuhrman.org/blog/?p=144
The City should settle as a wrongful death, change police policy, procedure and move on. In my opinion there is lack of intent to prove beyond a reasonable doubt a for federal criminal civil rights violation.
OK S-R why aren’t you fanning the flames over the Savage death too? Cat got your tongue:-)
lewis8457 on October 29 at 9:49 a.m.
The fact that the evidence more then proves the SPD tried to cover this incident up, should wake the city up and have them admit they were wrong and deal with it. If we really do have a budget crisis giving these 7 officers their walking papers, would be better then laying off a honest hard working cop just because they don’t have seniority.
If I have to take a drug test to clean a toilet them someone carrying a gun sure the hell should too. I have always assumed the SPD busted all the weed dispensaries because they were cutting into the cop’s side business ventures.
since they can do anything they want what keeps them from forming their own black market………..nothing
arliacne on October 29 at 4:21 p.m.
“How disturbimg is this? “he was on something..” This is part of their justification to treat a citizen in this manner?? ”
What I don’t get is how simply anybody could call 911 and make this claim and the pigs go in murdering without making their own initial assessment. That’s incompetence.
Rifleman__Dodd on October 29 at 6:39 p.m.
“Zehm tape raises doubts”.
Doesn’t raise any of my doubts against the lawless gunslingers of the SPD. Just confirms them.