Spokane7
53°
September 3, 2010 in Opinion, Letters
Truth may be shaped
The tragic shooting of Scott Creach, a pastor, respected longtime Spokane businessman and radio personality, by a Spokane Valley police officer was headline news, as it very well should be.
As I understand it, the cruel, arrogant “lawman” would not even allow Mr. Creach’s family members to go to his side until a long time after his death.
The “law officers” are (not surprisingly!) “releasing few details” regarding the matter. Why, of course not. It will take quite some time to concoct a story that will cause the grieving family and the public to swallow. A soon-to-come “story” will picture Mr. Creach as being the “bad guy” responsible for his own death in the parking lot of his own business.
But not to worry, the “truth” will come out. (Ha!) The matter is being “investigated” by the city of Spokane Police Department. Yeah, the department from which a “squad” of officers dashed into a store and ended up killing Otto Zehm, an innocent, unarmed, mentally challenged gentleman who had had the audacity to go into the store simply to buy a bottle of pop. Or was it a candy bar?
Ken Campbell
Deer Park
It truly is a tragedy that Mr. Creach met such an untimely and unfortunate end. But I wonder if the media would have had such a massive “feeding frenzy” about him and his death if the dear soul would have died in his sleep or died in any other way? Is all this really about Mr. Creach or magnifying yet another opportunity to malign some of our county’s best? Just a thought.
Donna Potter Phillips
Spokane
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misjustice on September 03 at 8:00 a.m.
@ Ms. Phillips; Mr.Creach didn’t die, peacefully, in his sleep. He was the victim of homicide; at the hands of a Spokane Valley Police officer. He was robbed of the opportunity to die, peacefully, in his sleep and also robbed of living out the rest of his life because of the action’s of another human being.
Ed Byrnes on September 03 at 11:16 a.m.
Ms. Phillips, since when are a group of thugs who terrorize and murder average citizens under the cover of law among “some of our country’s best?” I realize that there are solid individual law enforcement officers in our community but they consistently neglect to stand up against the criminal actions of their peers. This leaves us in a situation where both you and I are painting our local law enforcement officers with overly broad brushes, you calling them our country’s best and me calling them thugs.
Direct citizen review of incidents when law enforcement officers use lethal force against anyone would bring police behavior into the light of day, then you and I could have facts rather than speculation and our brush strokes would become less broad.
In the meantime please be safe, the preponderance of evidence demonstrates that it could be any of us at any time on the wrong end of an overly zealous officer’s gun.
Orphan on September 03 at 9:54 p.m.
My trust of law enforcement officers is at an all time low. I believe that most officers are good people. How do you know if you are dealing with a good one or a bad one until an encounter is over. I now just avoid them when ever I can.
fredjames on September 03 at 11:48 p.m.
The police should not park on someone’s private property late at night. That is trespassing , it is illegal. How long has it been since a Spokane police man has been shot to death, been a long time, so if any police man is afraid to work in police work for fear of being shot he should quit and get a less stressful job.
The stuff coming out of the police spin makes no sense, like it is scientifically proven that if you wait for days or even a week after a shooting to take a statement , then the accuracy will improve? What science is behind that, sounds like, walks like and it is BS.
The police man that killed a businessman on his own property and who never fired a shot, was willing to give a statement and instead the police department let him go out of the area for a week. Same deal for the taxpayer too, I think not. The police man did not check into a place to get counseling , he went on vacation to have a good time.
The police story about the cost incurred for the taxpayer to deny a planned vacation or pressuring the police shooter , it smells as bad as it is. Well then everyone gets to leave Spokane after shooting to death anyone on their own property that you are trespassing late at night, police, burglar, it does not matter, it is all your property.
Vacation used or denied is still paid for , it is earned and will be paid to the police man , in any event. Cost, cost, that will be the wrongful death lawsuit, can we up it from 2500 vacation to over 1 million dollars in tax paid settlement or legal cost to defend this police shooting. So how much more taxes do the private property owners have to pay for this shooting by our paid civil servants ?
Where is all the training and experience that we pay for any fool can shoot and kill a person when trespassing late at night, do not park on private property!