Spokane7
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March 2, 2011 in City
Civil suit against former SPD officer dismissed
Former Spokane Police Officer James “Jay” Olsen won’t face any civil penalties for shooting a fleeing, unarmed man in the head in 2007.
U.S. District Court Judge Edward F. Shea agreed with a request by Olsen’s attorney, Rob Cossey, to dismiss the civil lawsuit brought by Shonto Pete, who was unable to find an attorney to represent him after Shea ruled last year to drop the City of Spokane from the case.
“I know this is a sad day for you Mr. Pete,” Shea said. “I gave you 100 days to complete discovery. You have simply failed to carry that out, so I’m dismissing the case.”
Pete yelled at Shea as he walked off the bench: “That’s what you call justice? Justice is a joke.”
The case began on Feb. 26, 2007, when both Pete and Olsen had been drinking. Olsen, who was off duty at the time, was carrying a concealed gun at Dempsey’s Brass Rail when he claims he saw Pete try to steal his truck in downtown Spokane.
Olsen chased Pete, mostly on foot, and shot him in the back of the head as Pete ran down an embankment into Peaceful Valley. Pete, who was also legally drunk that night, was later exonerated on a criminal charge that he stole Olsen’s truck.
In December 2008, Pete filed a $750,000 claim against Olsen and the city, citing a violation of his civil rights. And then in 2009, a Spokane jury acquitted Olsen of first-degree assault and reckless endangerment in connection with the shooting.
A short time later, Olsen quit the police force before Chief Anne Kirkpatrick could decide whether to fire him for his actions. As a result of his acquittal, Olsen was paid $167,712 in back pay, including $9,795 for overtime. Acting City Human Reserouces Director Erin Jacobson said in an interview earlier this year that Olsen was granted overtime — even though he didn’t work at all — because when calculating backpay, the city estimates how much overtime an employee likely would have received had they not been placed on leave.
The civil cased proceeded but Shea ruled a year ago to drop the city from the case, and Pete’s attorneys then quit the case. Pete told Shea today that he has continued to try to find another attorney to advance his case but he could not.
“I didn’t get the $150,000 in back pay to find an attorney. All I got was $10.12 for being a witness,” Pete said. “In order for me to get a fair shot at this, I am asking for a little more time to advance this … especially being the victim in this matter.”
But Shea pointed out that he had already given Pete more time.
“My responsibility is to both parties,” Shea said. “Mr. Olsen has rights, too. I’m going to dismiss the case for failure to prosecute.”
Olsen, 47, declined a request for comment following the hearing.
“This has been a long haul,” Cossey said on behalf of Olsen. “He wants to get on with his life. Judge Shea was very very fair with Mr. Pete.”
Pete, who still has $20,000 in medical bills, disagreed.
“It’s a joke. Judge Shea is a joke. What justice is that when you can’t even get a fair shake in front of a jury to discuss your case? You get to shoot someone and not be held responsible,” he said. “People are supposed to be held responsible for the things you do. And, (Olsen) got off scot-free.”
Man dies following early Saturday accident 
Orange on March 02 at 1:08 p.m.
Very good decision. Unpopular I’m sure, but the best that can be made.
Scoutster on March 02 at 1:20 p.m.
Olsen gets a paid year and a half off.
Pete gets a sh*t sandwich.
Even though the justice system went through its motions, it is difficult to see how anything about this case has to do with justice.
Bent on March 02 at 1:28 p.m.
That is a complete shame
johnclarke on March 02 at 1:41 p.m.
No charges for carrying a concealed weapon in a bar, and carrying while intoxicated? Maybe that is ok in gay bars. j/k
thencameme on March 02 at 1:49 p.m.
Pete could not get a conviction in criminal court and tried civil. His case was such crap that he had over 100 days to get a lawyer and not a one would take his case. Keep complaining about what you hear on the news but a jury said no to Pete as did any lawyer that he talked to because they knew he was a waste of time. Do a bit of research on Pete and his upbringing and you might be able to understand what kind of person he is and why no one believes him.
DickAdams on March 02 at 2:03 p.m.
After watching Judge Shea in action regarding the River Park Square suit, Shea is a big disappointment. For some reason, as I posted a day or so ago about Spokane and a federal judge who was masturbating in River Front Park, the SPD did not charge the low life. I remember at the time, I talked to Cherie Rodgers about the judge and his conduct and she told me the city refused to do anything because of the bad publicity surrounding Mayor Jim West and were afraid of more bad news about the poor reputation of Spokane. Cherie, told me if there was anything I could to cause the SPD to file charges against the judge she would do what she could. I wasted 8 hours to no avail. I talked to the Ass`t Police Chief and others and accomplished absolutely nothing. No justice in the courts, no religion in the churches. To me Shea showed his colors for the second time. Not good.
Kivaari on March 02 at 2:15 p.m.
Where were all of the anti-police abuse organizations in Spokane. With all of the anti-cop people, why didn’t they join forces and hire Pete an attorney? Is it because he is a very unsympathetic person? What has Pete lost as a result of being wounded? Did he lose his job?
I am glad that Olsen was forced into quitting. He disgraced the profession. He certainly was in error when he shot Pete.
Considering a jury aquitted Olsen, Pete must have come across as “deserving” his injury. Did any jury members make public comments?
Wizard_of_ID on March 02 at 2:22 p.m.
So not ONE money grubbing ambulance chaser had the cajones to even ATTEMPT to try this case? Not even ONE!?! I don’t care how shady Pete is, there is always ONE lawyer out there who will do it for the payday. Methinks police intimidation is highly involved. How the heck do you get away with shooting an unarmed man, in the head, while he was running away, for THINKING that he was stealing your truck, while you were drunk, and carrying illegally, in a BAR!? How is this even possible? This pig could not have been more guilty if he had “the only good Indian is a dead Indian” tattooed on his forehead! Typical SPD police corruption!
Ron_the_Cop on March 02 at 2:27 p.m.
If what Pete said is true, the civil bar in Spokane should be ashamed of itself.
Whether a civil jury would have rendered a verdict favorable to Pete, this case should have been tried on its merits.
PhiltheBibliophil on March 02 at 2:49 p.m.
And you call this justice? Right up there with the Westboro Baptist Church ruling today saying its okay to protest military funerals. This country, and especially this once fine city, is Finished! Don’t say you wern’t warned when Buffet’s Cattle Cars come to get you!
Scoutster on March 02 at 3:03 p.m.
Isn’t the issue that Jay Olsen is basically “judgment proof”?
Peete could win, but since the deep pockets of the city aren’t available, there would be no money at the end of the ride.
I”m asking the people who might actually KNOW something about this, like a litigator. Anyone out there?
Ninja8 on March 02 at 3:12 p.m.
the cop was carrying a gun at Dempseys Brass rail !! HA HA! To those of you who dont know the brass rail is Spokanes biggest GAY BAR! how many other off duty cops hang out at dempseys hmm.. (“Slow day i didnt kill any spokanites today. i think i will go pick up a guy tonight.~SPD”)
eagleproducer on March 02 at 3:33 p.m.
Scoutster: You hit the nail on the head. The reasons his original attorneys bailed was because they agreed to accept the case sans retainer and hope for the big payoff at the end through a contingency fee arrangement. As soon as Judge Shea ruled (and correctly, since Olsen was not acting in his capacity as their employee) that the city wasn’t liable, the sharks left the tank for other blood filled waters.
I guess Shonto should just be satisfied that Olsen didn’t have his jack-booted cadre in attendance to cheer this ruling like they did at the reading of the not guilty verdict during the criminal proceedings.
There are very few lawyers in this town who’ll accept pro bono cases like these and that is a strong indictment of our legal community.
Rob Cossey can take a walk. One day he’s representing a rogue cop, the next day it’s a gang banger from L.A. Dirty money for retainers? No problem for Cossey! Hopefully he’s been dismissed from his adjunct professorship at the Community Colleges of Spokane. I was enrolled in a business law class of his years ago and was aghast at his level of unprofessional conduct. He was late almost every day, ill-prepared and only delivered on about half of the instruction promised in his syllabus. When I reminded him that the syllabus is a legal contract between student and instructor he referred to a non-existent provision that allowed him to makeschanges as he saw fit and at his leisure.
Kivaari on March 02 at 3:36 p.m.
Ninja, Old news. Everybody that has followed the case knew Olsen was gay. He tried covering it up using his female witness, and “assistant”. He screwed up big time.
Obviously Pete is not anywhere near being a sympathetic victim.
I don’t know how anyone could get away with shooting a fleeing man, off duty or not, while drunk. Olsen’s truck wasn’t stolen and he suffered no damages as a result of Pete’s actions just confirms his poor judgement. Don’t blame the police department for this series of courtroom madness.
Why didn’t the Spokane Justice League provide an attorney? If Pete was a “good guy” it would seem like a case they would jump all over to prove the police abuse. But it wasn’t a department sanctioned or approved action, so there were no deep pockets to gold dig in.
Ron_the_Cop on March 02 at 3:41 p.m.
Spoketucky,
I have to agree the bottom dwelling scum suckers saw no money in this case once the City of Spokane was dismissed.
Hence my jab at the self-righteous Spokane civil bar. No civil conscience.
Patanjali on March 02 at 4:38 p.m.
I am a retired lawyer, and Scoutster is right, once the city was dismissed, and properly so because Olson was not acting within the scope of his duties as a police officer but was off duty, then there was no money to go after and the attorneys were retained on a contingent fee, where they get a percentage of what is actually collected. Litigating a case costs a lot of money, for discovery and witness fees, and of course in time, and when there is no expectation of recovering your expensese then it is understandable that the attorneys withdrew. There are many lawyers who do pro bono work, about 20% of my time when I was practicing was devoted to pro bono work, but litigating a case that will cost $50,000 out of pocket with no expectation of recovering your costs is beyond what most pro bono attorneys are willing to do.
A couple of other points: Rob Cossey is an honorable lawyer and did a good job on this case; the issue about being in a gay bar is irrelevant except perhaps to homophobics, and Judge Shea ruled correctly both when the city was dismissed and when the entire lawsuit was dismissed.
zelda on March 02 at 4:41 p.m.
I guess we could call this a case of lawyer nullification. But I can see how this happened. There are no damages to recover (I don’t imagine that Jay Olsen has assets worth pursuing) and no lawyer is going to take it on constitutional principle, so the whole misbegotten, wretched episode will fade away.
Now it’s just grist for Doug Clark’s mill. -30-
misjustice on March 02 at 4:47 p.m.
Justice has been served…….the chief justice has spoken…… and apparently the local attorney’s saw it was a loosing case & didn’t want to get involved (the courts/a jury did find Olson innocent of the charges). Well, this time it was the courts telling him he didn’t have a case.
Now when we get past the next hurdle of lawsuits maybe the police bashing will stop for a few days. What? Oh, I’m sure they’ll find something else to blame the police for. Well, this wasn’t the police departments blame for dismissing the case, but I’m sure those that hate the police will continue to blame them.
eagleproducer on March 02 at 4:59 p.m.
I don’t hate the police but I do take exception to them cheering a not guilty verdict when clearly their fellow officer shot another human who was fleeing from him. A fellow human who had not committed a crime or done what the officer lied about him doing.
Nuance, Grammy, not black and white. That’s where reality lies.
Kivaari on March 02 at 5:14 p.m.
Spoketucky, This isn’t a police story. It is a case of one idiot drunk shooting another idiot drunk. I understand your digust with Olsens co-workers cheering, I don’t get that either. But nothing Olsen did followed any police policy or practice. He should have been convicted….but he wasn’t. Case closed.
lewis8457 on March 02 at 5:18 p.m.
Pete should have known he didn’t have a chance, not in Spokane against a cop.
thencameme So a cop can shoot you and leave you for dead and you live and want someone to pay your medical bills your past character comes into play? As if you deserved to be shot and left for dead on the side of the street? Maybe the hole in his head is a lie he is telling is that what you expect us to believe? Or maybe the medics were lying when they took a bullet out of his head. Or maybe forensic was lying when they said it was a city owned bullet? And if it is really just a lie how does it keep making the news?
If someone shot you in the head would you want them to pay your medical bills that is all Pete wants. He has went bankrupt over this, how much should he be willing to lose so Olson can collect his pay and paint himself pink?
Let me guess you’re a cop. Only cops in Spokane think the low lives, depressed and suicidal people can be shot at will and your doing us all a favor right?
No lawyer took this case because they know there is no winning against a cop in Spokane.
Yes I am surprised a couple of Olson’s buddies in full uniform didn’t take Pete down when he yelled at the judge. They were probably in a hurry to get to Charlies and do some jello shots before starting patrol.
jddavis on March 02 at 5:41 p.m.
I am not a cop hater by any means, however, this is just another example of the crap that Spokane area law enforcement individuals get away with. Why is there such a protected Good ‘Ole Boy Club around here? Why is the elected people in the justice system so afraid to uphold the law for EVERYONE or too spineless to do the right thing?
To the cops out there with integrity who constantly work above the board, THANK YOU!
NancyAP on March 02 at 5:52 p.m.
A very interesting story on the state of the legal, judicial and police system in this town/state. We voters really need to look at the people who hold elected positions and their decisions, justice is not just for out standing citizens, and there are legalities that allow what has happened to happen. The only recourse I can see is to vote out or in those holding the attitudes you like, possibly contribute to a fund to help Mr. Pete is you feel inclined to do so, and take our heads out of the sand and learn just what is going on around us. I am not trying to influence where you stand on this case as I think that people on all sides should really discuss what has just happened and no matter which way you think this case should be resolved, start having convictions and discussions about how we all can expect some kind of justice for everyone. A bullet in the back of the head into a fleeing person seems serious enough to have had a different outcome that this one. If I ran after a person that I thought was doing or had been doing something wrong and shot him from the back while not being threatened, would I end up not going to jail at least? I do’t think I could even get thru the system if the person held a weapon on me. Wake up, please.
eagleproducer on March 02 at 6:03 p.m.
kivari: Thanks for resetting my previous post. When you decide to do so in the future I’d appreciate if you didn’t imply or adhere your own content to mine. You are free to comment on what I wrote, but not re-write.
eagleproducer on March 02 at 6:06 p.m.
What Shea is really saying with this ruling is what should have been apparent to all a long time ago:
I could just use the initials O.J. and leave it at that.
But I won’t.
pgroup on March 02 at 6:32 p.m.
Pete screwed up by not playing the Indian race card. I don’t like it but sometimes it’s just about the only way to get around the procedural walls in fed civil rights cases. And the dismissal of the City was problematic rather than proper. In my view, proper discovery could have shown a failure to properly train plus a history of tolerating bad behavior by off duty cops.
Thus, the city could easily have been exposed to liability under an exception to the Monell barrier. (That’s legal-speak for the immunity from liability for governments negligently hiring unqualified people.)
And what happened to the federal attorney list that the federal courts are supposed to use to get attorneys to agree to handle hardship cases like this? Maybe that’s only in the Western District of Washington federal court, although to be fair I have never heard of a case over here being taken by an attorney donating his expertise. But at least we claim to have such a list and the Ninth Circuit really does have one that they use.
misjustice on March 02 at 7:02 p.m.
Yes. When all else fails, play the race card. Personally, I’m pretty sick of that one too.
BTW…..said it before, will say it again. Not with the police. Never have been & to old to be now.
Kivaari on March 02 at 7:11 p.m.
Spoketucky, Say what? Reset your post, I can’t even correct errors in my posts after it is done. You might complain to the web site manager.
Don’t you find it odd that a jury found Olsen innocent? I do, but I didn’t hear what Pete had said in court. It is obvious by the verdict, that the jury found Pete to be partially responsible for his own shooting.
How can you blame the police for that? The police were not on the jury.
How can you blame the prosecutor, they filed charges and thought it was a slam dunk case?
Regarding the civil suit, why don’t you blame the civil rights community for not aiding Pete in his pursuit of compensation? Where was the civil rights crowd? They could have held a pow-wow and raised enough money to either pay Pete’s medical bills or hire him an attorney. They did neither.
What strikes me is there are people complaining, but they are not willing to step up and help Pete. Why not? $20K isn’t that much money in this day and age. If there was such a hatred of Spokane PD, why don’t the complainers each donate $5 to a Shonto Pete medical bill or legal fund.
Pete obviously didn’t have much of a case. At least he has a good story to tell his drinking buddies. He can also tell them how the local civil rights groups didn’t help him get justice.
Kivaari on March 02 at 7:18 p.m.
The biggest issue in this case is, what ammo was Olsen shooting from his Glock M27 .40 S&W? Reason being it didn’t perform very well, it slid under the skin and only gave Pete a headache. I’d like to know, so I don’t waste my money on the loading.
rshauvin on March 02 at 9:26 p.m.
So the rat lawyers flee the sinking ship when the easy mark dumb ass city gets released from the lawsuit. I’m not sure which is more pathetic……the money grubbing lawyers who only want to work if they can take candy from a baby…..or the idiots from the city who pay $161,000 in back pay to a disgraced cop plus another $9,000 for phantom overtime which disgraced cop would have worked. Give me a break ……the lawyers know they write a few letters and bingo.. idiot city wonk with the checkbook starts writing checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Disgusting.
de3 on March 02 at 10:27 p.m.
There’s a lot of disgust to go around. Spokane itself just seems dirty and disgusting when this stuff goes round and round.
amn on March 02 at 10:55 p.m.
Judge Shea is a very honorable judge who I have appeared before on more than one occasion. The rules of the federal court are very strict and from how it appears, Judge Shea made the correct ruling. All of you conspiracy theorists need to look for something else to keep your paranoia busy, because this was a procededural ruling for lack of prosecution, not because the police department put pressure to make the lawsuit go away. Judge Shea was appointed, not elected to keep political pressure from affecting his rulings.
Also, keep bashing the “money grubbing lawyers” who will not take a case for free. It does not take an economics degree to understand that you do not spend $20-50,000 working on a case where you know the client cannot pay the costs, and the chance of recovering against Olsen is very small. Lawyers who take cases on principal are usually very broke.
PlanB on March 02 at 11:31 p.m.
One person pursued and shot another person with all intent of harming them, yet they walk away.
That is the tragedy here. We are all less safe because of this ruling and the acquittal of Olsen when he is clearly guilty.
Ed Byrnes on March 02 at 11:42 p.m.
Olsen being found innocent of the criminal offenses demonstrates that we have a legal system rather than a justice system.
mikeln on March 03 at 5:56 a.m.
Money=justice, fine way to run our legal system.
bszottlinger on March 03 at 7:10 a.m.
I’d have to agree with Judge Shea’s ruling severing the City of Spokane from the case. I think it would be very difficult based on the public record to prove that Olsen was acting under the color of law something that would have been required to keep the City in a 1983 claim. Once the City was severed the deep pockets went away as did any incentive for a private lawyer to pursue the case out of their own pocket. I would assume Mr. Pete attempted to find a non-profit organization or perhaps tribal lawyers to pursue the case as a matter of principle(that’s all that is left once the deep pocket evaporates)but was apparently unsuccessful for one reason or another.
Although it may well be a travesty if there is any blame to be attached one might go back and look at the criminal case where the Spokane County Prosecutor inexplicably did not call (what were in the opinion of many) important witnesses to rebut the questionable testimony of the 911 supervisor. As I recall the Prosecutors rationale was that it would have been hard for the witnesses to make it to trial, something the witnesses later denied.
jddavis on March 03 at 8:57 a.m.
amn—as a “conspiracy theorist”, I have trouble with a cop carrying a gun into a bar, getting intoxicated while carrying a gun, and shooting someone who is running away from him. What is it about the incident that you think is alright? Why was Olsen not punished by the “legal system” for violating the law? Why was he paid $167k for wages he would have earned if he didn’t break the law, plus nearly $10k for overtime he probably would have earned had he not broken the law?
So what if you stood before Judge Shea many times. You should have an idea of right and wrong by now.
kennyhuston on March 03 at 10:07 a.m.
So the “deep pockets of the city” were made ineligible, which is understandable. Obviously Olsen did have assets to go after, $176,000.00 worth at least. Instead Pete gets stuck with $20,000.00 in medical bills AND a hole in the head? If I so much would have thrown a rock a someone and hit them in the head after wrongfully concluding they had attempted to steal my vehicle you can bet they would have arrested me, as I’m just an ordinary citizen and not SPD!!!
@ thencameme - What does Pete’s upbringing/criminal history/ect. have to do with it? If I’m following your way of thinking, which is hard to understand, people with less than an ideal upbringing are deserving of this type of atrocity? Are there any other factors which might make a regular citizen ineligible for any recourse for such an act? Would you please explain this to me?
Ron_the_Cop on March 03 at 11:11 a.m.
Brad,
I concur with your points re Olsen. The prosecution dropped the ball in this case by not rebutting the dispatcher’s testimony because the tape was not available.
A common denominator in all of this as you suggest is Steve Tucker. I would invite all who want real change to follow this FaceBook page:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100002054800286
ChefGus/ John Olsen on March 03 at 12:52 p.m.
This case and the original trial was the motivation for Many of us to work for Frank Malone for Prosecutor in the recent elections. Frank lost, and so did the County…. I doubt there will be any substantive change in the way cases are handled, and prosecuted with Mr Tucker still at the helm. Gus
Justice?…. no…. Just Us…. “Richard Pryor”
bszottlinger on March 03 at 2:03 p.m.
ChefGus:
You are absolutely right, but what happens is that people forget, and unless they are directly effected there could care less. With a police officer involved you would think that the prosecutor would go to great lengths to insure that they did the best job possible, and they did not. But the true test of what Spokane needs is what they want, and apparently that is not much, people are satisfied with the way things are.
As an example and this was my reference to TheRoyLarsen, a SR story regarding a recent presentation by the head of Internal Affairs Unit of the SPD before the Public Safety Committee stated that the IA complaints were well below the national average of 6.6 per 100 officers. The problem is that the 6.6 number is for agencies with over 1000 officers and the Stats were from a 2002 request for information, and did not include all national law enforcement agencies. If this was an effort to make the SPD look good and gloss over problems, not one elected official has questioned the validity of those stats even though Councilman Bob Apple was made aware by email of the situation. Apparently it is not news worthy or the media would have followed up on it. So that’s where Spokane is, but we are real nice people, just ask!
eagleproducer on March 03 at 3:31 p.m.
kenny: thencameme is trying to tell people Shonto isn’t a worthy victim. It’s something human kind invented a long time ago to shield our consciousness from the atrocities committed in our names. For the U.S., that means the Cambodian genocide of the 1970’s isn’t our fault because they aren’t “worthy victims” but the people we don’t kill in Cuba are.