Man Held In Shooting Of Officer Sues Tacoma Charges Police Violated Rights Raiding Home, Using Heavy Force

Fri., Sept. 19, 1997

Associated Press

The man accused of fatally shooting a Tacoma police officer during a standoff last month is suing the city, saying police violated his civil rights.

The suit by Sap Kray was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Although police said the standoff stemmed from threats Kray made against his wife, Samaun Srip, she joined him in filing suit. His brother, Ting Kray, is also listed as a plaintiff.

The suit seeks unspecified damages from the city, the police department, Police Chief Philip Arreola and 25 unidentified police officers on the scene.

Police violated the Kray family’s rights by surrounding their house without knowledge of a crime, using excessive force, illegally detaining Srip and Ting Kray and leaving the home bullet-ridden and uninhabitable, according to the suit.

Arreola said he didn’t want to comment on the case until the city attorney’s office had reviewed it and until prosecutors have made a charging decision on Kray - which could come as early as Friday.

Kray, who was shot in the spine during the confrontation, is paralyzed. He remains hospitalized at Harborview Medical Center.

The lawsuit also claims that police have held Kray “under arrest and under guard … although he has not been charged with a crime and has not been taken before a judicial officer.”

While Kray may not be under arrest, he is under police guard and not free to leave his hospital room if he were able, said Gerry Horne, Pierce County chief criminal deputy prosecutor.

Once charges are filed and the suspect is jailed, prosecutors ordinarily must appear in court on the next court business day to arraign the defendant or seek a delay.

Those court rules are silent on what the time limits should be in a case where the defendant is incapacitated like Kray, Horne said.

The Aug. 28 standoff stemmed from threats Kray allegedly made against Srip. Kray had argued with her and followed her to her job at Emerald Downs racetrack. A security guard described Kray as angry and intoxicated when he arrived.

Kray left and later arrived with an assault rifle at Srip’s home in Tacoma. When she returned home from work and saw his vehicle, she called Tacoma police.

Officer Bill Lowry, 39, was shot and killed as he led an arrest team into the home where an armed Kray was holed up inside. Police say Kray fired only a single round from a semiautomatic weapon, killing Lowry.

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