Cop fired for lying after crash

Spokane police rookie John Elam, the former county jail guard accused of using a “donkey kick” to subdue an inmate, has been fired from the Police Department for lying during a crash investigation.

“I fired him personally yesterday,” Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said Wednesday. “I said that untruthfulness would not be tolerated.”

On Nov. 18, the officer was on his first day alone in a patrol car when he rear-ended a vehicle and caused a four-car collision, Kirkpatrick said. When asked if he was wearing a seat belt, the chief said Elam replied yes.

A device in the patrol car, which police referred to as the “black box,” revealed Elam was not wearing a seat belt.

“Some would say I’m too stiff, I’m too hard,” Kirkpatrick said. “But I’ve been upfront about what’s unacceptable.”

Elam could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Elam had no civil service rights at the Police Department because he was still on probation, said police spokesman Cpl. Tom Lee.

Kirkpatrick was adamant that Elam’s termination had nothing to do with his involvement in the death of the Spokane County Jail inmate.

Elam has denied kicking the inmate, 39-year-old Benites Sichiro, who died Jan. 29, 2006, after fighting violently with jail guards and suffering injuries to his midsection. Sichiro, a Mariana Islands native, had been booked into jail for investigation of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.

Disclosure of the donkey kick was contained in the follow-up investigation of Sichiro’s death by the Washington State Patrol. By the time the investigation was publicly released, Elam had taken a job with Spokane police.

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich has since banned the donkey kick and has informed jail personnel that they will be disciplined if it’s ever used.

Meanwhile, Spokane County prosecutors have delayed a decision, originally expected in June, on whether to file charges against any of the jailers involved.

Two weeks ago, Knezovich said, Spokane County Prosecutor Steve Tucker told him a decision would be coming within the week. But, the sheriff said, he still hasn’t heard from the prosecutor’s office, and he’s “totally in the dark” about which way Tucker is leaning.

Kirkpatrick indicated during a news conference Wednesday that she had learned from federal investigators recently that Elam wouldn’t be charged in the jail death investigation.

But FBI agent Frank Harrill said Wednesday: “We are not at a point in the investigation in which we can report a public finding in that case.”

Sichiro had resisted and fought with guards after a jail nurse asked that he be moved closer to her station when she noticed he was suffering from alcohol withdrawal and was delusional.

The Spokane medical examiner determined Sichiro died from a lacerated liver caused by a strike to his torso.

The blows from fists and knees, and shocks by Taser jolts, were reported during the initial investigation, but the donkey kick wasn’t reported until later.

Capt. Jerry Brady of the Spokane County Jail said that other than the kick, “everything everyone did was well within policy and procedure.”

Elam said in a previous interview: “Though the outcome of that day was horrible, I will always maintain that I did my job in accordance with my training and experience. I’ve always taken responsibility for my actions and have held a high personal and professional standard for myself and the agencies I work for.”

Sichiro’s former wife has since filed a $5 million claim against Spokane County for her ex-husband’s death.