Spokane7
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May 12, 2011 in City
Creaches want all cars marked
Widow, son criticize sheriff’s investigation into shooting
Imogene Creach, center, stands with son Alan Creach, right, and other family members at a news conference Wednesday near the spot where Wayne Scott Creach was killed by a Spokane County sheriff’s deputy at The Plant Farm in the Spokane Valley.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)
No one has lost more from the August shooting that killed a Spokane Valley pastor than Imogene Creach.
The widow of 74-year-old Wayne Scott Creach stood among family members Wednesday as they implored Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich to prohibit the parking of unmarked patrol cars on private property.
“It’s been difficult,” said Creach, who was married to Scott Creach for 54 years. “The one thing I am truly sorry for was that I was not permitted to be with my husband during his dying moments. I felt I should have been there holding his hand while others stood around and watched him bleed out.”
She noted that she and her husband, the founder of Greenacres Baptist Church, were “pro-police” before the encounter on Aug. 25 when Creach armed himself before walking out to investigate what he thought was a prowler but was instead Deputy Brian Hirzel in an unmarked patrol car.
“They have been given the responsibility and they need to discharge that responsibility with humility and fairness,” she said in her first substantive public comments since the shooting. “We have always considered law enforcement as a resource. It has been disappointing … to have everything controlled and switched around to help a brother in law enforcement. So many people have said: ‘When I saw a police car I had a sense of security. But now when I see one I just want to duck.’ I think that’s sad.”
Meanwhile, an obviously frustrated Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said Wednesday that he has done everything he can think of to add transparency to the investigation of the fatal shooting.
He brought in a member of Gov. Chris Gregoire’s ethics board to sit in on the review by the department’s Citizen Advisory Board. He asked Spokane Police Ombudsman Tim Burns to sit in while investigators answered all the board’s questions before they determined that Hirzel’s actions that night were reasonable.
“Everyone wants to look at the actions of the deputy,” Knezovich said. “As soon as Scott knew (Hirzel) was a deputy, the car became irrelevant.”
But Alan Creach, son of the slain pastor, said the whole incident would have been avoided if Hirzel had not parked the unmarked patrol vehicle on private property. He pushed for a bill presented last week by state Reps. Matt Shea and Larry Crouse, both Republicans from Spokane Valley, prohibiting law enforcement from parking unmarked cars on private property for routine matters.
“This incident is going to occur again,” Alan Creach said. “We are asking the sheriff to mark the unmarked cars. That’s not unreasonable. That’s state law.”
However, Knezovich argues that he can use unmarked cars under the law that exempts police departments and sheriff’s offices “or any vehicles used by local peace officers under public authority for special undercover or confidential investigative purposes.”
Alan Creach said his own reading of the same law makes it appear that unmarked cars can only be used for those limited purposes.
Asked if his deputies can do their job using only marked cars, Knezovich replied: “I suppose you can do any job with the tools given. But the real question is how effective are you going to be?”
The continuing disagreement between the Creach family and Knezovich includes accusations that Knezovich has not been truthful and that the family can’t get all the investigative information it has requested. Knezovich said Wednesday that the family has made records requests that are so ambiguous it’s been difficult for his department to comply.
Knezovich pointed out that Alan Creach said in an interview in October that his private investigator found gunshot residue inside Hirzel’s patrol car when the actual report from the investigator found no such residue.
“As soon as the (internal investigation) is done, I intend on getting everything out to everyone,” Knezovich said.
For their part, Alan Creach said his family has spent “a tremendous amount” on experts and have hired local attorney Richard Wall to coordinate their efforts. But, they have not said whether that process will end with a civil lawsuit against Spokane County. “That’s the last resort,” he said.
Alan Creach said he doesn’t understand why Knezovich would oppose legislation limiting the use of unmarked cars. For his own part, the family has installed a steel-pole and chain fence around the parking lot of The Plant Farm, at 14208 E. Fourth Ave., to keep unwanted vehicles out at night.
“The reaction from the sheriff has eroded the public’s trust and faith in law enforcement,” Alan Creach said. “All he needs to do is acknowledge the mistake, make changes and move on.”
1992 murder trial begins against sex offender 
oneanddone on May 12 at 5:08 a.m.
This is a classic case of the tail wanting to wag the dog.
Orange on May 12 at 6:22 a.m.
This is a sad story. But no unmarked cars? Not going to happen.
valleyman on May 12 at 8:14 a.m.
More stirring the pot to inflame public sentiment…
In my opinion the Creach family either needs to file a civil suit seeking changes in policy and for financial compensation or they need to shut up, finish their grieving process and stay out of the lime light for more than a week at a time…
Harsh you say? Well, when the prosecutor, two review boards, and the public sentiment writ large have all come down on the side of ‘tragic incident that could have been avoided had Creach obeyed the commands of the police…’ my sympathy is running low.
I am, and will always be saddened by the tragic loss of life in this case, but do I think we need to continue to hear about how the Creaches would run the world if they were in charge; NO!
Alan, please do us all a favor and either just sue (in which case your lawyer will tell you to keep your mouth closed) or run for Sheriff and show us all you really do know how to do things better…
Now I’ll sit here and wait for the usual suspects to call me a heartless lover of all that is of the law…
SpokaneIsFun on May 12 at 8:43 a.m.
Although this is a tragic event, what makes this family think that if a marked police unit arrived that night that Mr. Creach would have obeyed the officer’s commands. It wouldn’t have made a difference. One emotionally upset family should not dictate law enforcement policy in the community.
Ron_the_Cop on May 12 at 9:12 a.m.
SpokanelsFun,
I happen to believe it may have made a difference. If not it would have removed a key issue in any plantiff’s suit in a subsequent wrongful death suit.
I’m not willing at this point to give Dep. Hirzel the benefit of the doubt as to his statements being an accurate account of what happened that night. There are inconsistencies in his statements/tactics as well as scene forensics that are still unresolved in my mine. Dep. Hirzel’s statements are being taken as fact. What if Dep. Hirzel is not being entirely truthful? The SPD investigation was flawed. The $64 question is whether the Sheriff’s IA investigation/review will address these issues that I raised and presented to him in my report.
I won’t rehash my previous comments. For my previous posts just click on Clouse’s name at the beginning of this article for the recent articles and read my comments.
Also read the comments in Doug Clark’s column today on this point. Here’s an excerpt of mine:
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/may/12/doug-clark-unmarked-police-car-bill-solves-noones/
Det. Ron Wright (Retired)
Riverside PD, CA
WayFedUp2 on May 12 at 9:37 a.m.
Californian opionions….Californian cops…ie Hirzel. Give me an airsick bag!
Ron_the_Cop on May 12 at 10:01 a.m.
WayFedUp2,
I went to the same police academy that Dep. Hirzel did. He started his LE career in a small city near Palm Springs in Riverside County. If it takes a California cop to call out another CA cop for possible mistakes that cost the life of another when others won’t so be it.
I’m sorry I expect better of my LE colleagues as well as you should. I’m not necessarily down on Dep. Hirzel but I believe mistakes were made that night and more importantly in the departmental subsequent investigations. Need I say Otto Zehm? Mistakes need to be recognized, police policy, procedure and training changed so that these tragic events do not occur again. It does no one any good to sweep them under the rug.
Liberty_Bell on May 12 at 10:02 a.m.
California Opinions on a Statewide Problem.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/01/nation/la-na-seattle-police-20110401
Of course that classic Olympia problem, in Spokane, Tacoma, Seattle, Bellingham, Vancouver, Everett, and all points everywhere…
Confusing the local Governor and her Constitutional Duties.
“…and to see that the laws are faithfully executed.”
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/01/nation/la-na-seattle-police-20110401
maria on May 12 at 10:05 a.m.
That poor woman….losing her husband of 54 years to that knee jerk knee bashing jerk.
PlanB on May 12 at 10:09 a.m.
Creach family, please keep up the pressure and keep the faith.
If there is no major policy change, it will be yet another tragedy on top of the Pastor’s death and the shooter walking away scott-free.
greenlibertarian on May 12 at 10:53 a.m.
I know Richard Wall. He KNOWS, very well, what an uphill battle he faces.
I didn’t realize there was still an internal investigation going on about this tragedy.
As with most things, and certainly legal matters, there is blame rightly placed on both sides.
The absolute and complete truth about what happened will likely never be known to the public.
Ron, what city did Hirzel work for down south, Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City?
lewis8457 on May 12 at 11:26 a.m.
honestly i would shut down the nursery and move my entire family as far away from here as possible then hit them with every legal suit possible if anything just to screw with them, and waste their drinking time. Staying here and paying taxes that pay the man that murdered my father, no way.
The truth died with Mr. Creach, Hirzel had two weeks to make up a story based on news stories he was listening to.
It only had to be believable by his fellow cops not the public.
And so it is.
cdabornandraised on May 12 at 11:43 a.m.
If it’s bought with tax dollars … it needs to be marked! To serve and protect really means: to serve themselves and protect their jobs! “Peace officers” rolling around in unmarked cars with blacked out windows are well armed and organized gang bangers at best. Where are your papers!? Welcome to fascism.
zapox6 on May 12 at 12:20 p.m.
Re: Doug Clark’s column….could not get my comment to load under his article:
Let me get this straight….we citizens elect Matt Shea and Larry Crouse to represent us and our views and values, and then if they listen to us and respond as we want them to, they are “politically grandstanding”? “Politics makes for bad policy? Is our sheriff talking about our legislative process that he is criticizing? Public policy on police procedure should come from the police only? Are you kidding????? What kind of common sense is that? Making fun of Shea and Crouse and trashing them won’t make the talk among citizens go away, thank goodness. The Creach family should be respected.
You keep repeating that Mr. Creach was known to have a hot temper and be a trouble maker. Who keeps saying that? That is not the majority opinion of him in Spokane Valley from what I am hearing. Many people in our community don’t like the way this case was handled. My understanding is the tapes from the
officer’s car recorder exist…..why don’t you help us get them out into the public eye for the Creach family and other citizens to hear instead of attacking the two men we chose to speak for us in the government process?
Ron_the_Cop on May 12 at 2:36 p.m.
GL,
Dep. Hirzel spent about ten years at Cathedral City PD in Riverside County, CA a small city near Palm Springs. There are issues why he left there for Idaho before he transferred over to Spokane County.
Zapox6,
There are no audio tapes of this incident so that’s why there is all this discussion. Right now all we have is the statements of Dep. Hirzel for what happened that night.
I recommended to Sheriff Knezovich that he equip all of his vehicles with digital audio recorders that record in a continuous loop similar to cockpit voice recorders. This technology is relatively cheap as are the newer personally worn video cameras when compared with the potential liability. This issues now being discussed could be resolved quickly without the need for extensive followup investigation.
Thoreau on May 12 at 3:40 p.m.
No unmarked cars for the police? Okay, only if criminals have their cars marked “CRIMINAL” .
Understand how idiotic that is?