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September 9, 2009 in News
Officer’s trial expected to wrap tomorrow
A trial should conclude today that mixes a criminal charge and internal Spokane Police Department politics.
On one hand, a jury is being asked to convict Officer Rob Boothe, who is charged with fourth-degree assault after two officers reported seeing him kick a handcuffed suspect in the face who apparently wasn’t struggling to get away.
But defense attorney Rob Cossey is essentially asking the jury to make the two officers outcasts, saying several other officers were at the scene that night and didn’t see the alleged kick.
Special City Prosecutor Dana Kelly called three witnesses to present his case: the man who was kicked and officers Shaidon Storch and Erin Blessing. The three testified in a courtroom mostly filled with officers there to support Boothe, including Karl F. Thompson Jr., who faces two felony counts in federal court for his fatal encounter in 2006 with Otto Zehm.
Boothe, a 15-year veteran and master firearms instructor, has been on paid administrative leave since the car chase and foot pursuit on Sept. 5, 2008. If convicted of the misdemeanor offense, he faces up to a year in jail.
Storch and Blessing both testified they were standing next to Boothe, who had just caught suspect John Luna, 23. After he was handcuffed, Luna continued to talk back to the officers but was not attempting to get away or struggle. Boothe then leaned over, said something to Luna and kicked him near the mouth, both officers testified.
“I saw Officer Boothe kick the suspect in the face,” Storch said.
Blessing said she saw officers handcuff Luna and they all stood up to catch their breath in the backyard at 3204 W. Hoffman Ave.
“I was standing close to Luna’s head. Officer Boothe said ‘shut your hole’ or ‘your pie hole’ and then he kicked Mr. Luna in the face with his boot,” Blessing said.
She later testified that Boothe used enough force that she said a silent prayer for Luna and feared he may lose his teeth. Both officers said they saw Luna bleeding from the mouth area, but he apparently did not lose any teeth.
Luna testified he could not identify who kicked him but acknowledged that he had stolen a car and fled from police.
“I called him an Aryan and he kicked me in the face,” Luna said. “I don’t know who he was.”
Later, at the Spokane County Jail, Luna spoke with police detectives about the kick. He called it more of an interrogation than an interview.
“They tried to say I was lying,” Luna told the court.
Kelly said the city prosecutor’s office had a conflict so they hired him to prosecute the case.
During his questioning of Storch, who has worked for the department three and a half years, Kelly asked the officer what his relationship with other officers has been like since he reported the case to his superiors.
“Not very good. After this incident, a lot of people’s attitudes changed toward me,” he said.
In the afternoon, Cossey called several officers who said they were at the scene but did not see Boothe kick Luna. Most of those officers, however, acknowledged that they may have been looking elsewhere or were not there at the time of the alleged kick.
But Officer Craig Hamilton said, “I was there the whole time and I never saw a thing.”
When Kelly asked how other officers saw the kick and heard Luna complain and he did not, Hamilton replied: “It’s all a difference in perception in what you see and hear. If you ask three different witnesses, you will get three different stories.”
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DarkWind on September 09 at 3:11 p.m.
Either they are the only two Officers on the entire force with any integrity or they are lying and need to go before they lie about an innocent citizen.
A well written account of the facts with the exception that the suspect had no injury consistent with a kick on his face. This fact was in an earlier story.
It would be interesting to find out what evaluations both the accusing Officers received from Officer Boothe and how their performance has been since graduation. Bad Cops make the rest of the force look bad so it’s also interesting that the two accusers are not getting any support.
JFRENCH on September 09 at 3:34 p.m.
Excellent post that doesn’t pass judgement without knowledge. Nice change from the moronic statements that normally end up here.
Spokane_PI on September 09 at 4:39 p.m.
This is the reason all law enforcement should have dash cams in their vehicles. You cant trust a word the officers say. Abuse by police is the standard in Spokane.
I applaud the two policemen who told the truth. Its refreshing for a change.
Rifleman_Dodd on September 09 at 9:26 p.m.
“But Officer Craig Hamilton said, “I was there the whole time and I never saw a thing.”
Never saw a thing? Did he have his eyes closed the entire time? Did he use a cane to get around?
After the trial I hope the SPD gives all of them a polygraph test to sort out whose lying, but then we know that already.
What this just shows is that there is just two honest cops in the SPD. The rest are scum and dirt bags.
Remember the Sherrifs copter was up that night and the deputy on board thought he turned of the I/R tape when “this went down”, however he didnt and there were some wide eyes when they pulled the tape from the copter and it had been running the whole time.
I wonder if Thompson is taking vacation time for this trial, and if he can afford to take vacation time he can damn well afford to pay his own legal fees.
Kelly withheld evidence and only gave it to Cossey this morning before court. The prosecutore is going for the lesser included charges of 4th degree assualt since they dont believe they could get Boothe on 3rd degree assault charges.
Trial starts again tomorrow in room 303 Judge Marino.
I wonder if there will be the Jay Olsen posse and hand pumping after wards?
lewis8457 on September 09 at 10:16 p.m.
Sadly these two officers will be run out of the SPD. If they are being looked at as turn coats then their future is bleak. I would imagine some of the longer on the force guys are in the good old boy club and it has a firm grip on the younger guys.
Too bad one or both of these guys weren’t at Otto Zehm beating maybe Spokane could have seen some justice for him by now. But apparently those 7 guys are part of the good l boy club.
We can only hope justice will prevail in the Thompson case.
JFRENCH on September 10 at 12:54 a.m.
The Spokesman Review publishes horribly biased articles. Rifleman Dodd, I’d like to see you with one single day under your belt as an SPD officer. All the REAL “scumbags” you have to put up with. You’re just another one of those morons that succumbs to the Spokesman’s biased writings without using your own common sense to figure your way through life. I feel sorry for people that are stupid enough to let a newspaper think for them.
Spokane_PI on September 11 at 8:33 a.m.
JFRENCH is a perfect example of the SPD mentality. If you dont have a badge your just a “scumbag”. Its ok to kick you in the face if your a “scumbag” right JFRENCH? Its ok to lie to help an officer because he was just giving the “scumbag” what was coming to him.
Oh, and while we are chatting what part of this story did you consider biased?
This prosecution and trial was a joke from beginning to end. If it had been just a joe smo instead of an officer you know he would have been convicted in ten minutes. Actually, he would have plead out already because it would have been his word against the gaggle of police officers. And we all know they dont lie…..