Officer in shooting didn’t give statement

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office has completed its investigation into a May 1 officer-involved shooting without interviewing the officer, Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said Friday.

The Spokane County prosecutor’s office released the 167-page investigative file this week detailing the incident in which Spokane police Officer Todd W. Brownlee shot 26-year-old Ryan L. Patterson in the face during a confrontation at 1739 E. Wabash.

Patterson, who was charged with first-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm and methamphetamine, remains at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

The files document what appears to be a nightmare situation for Brownlee: He responded to check the welfare of a man who then engaged him in a life-threatening confrontation.

According to the reports, Brownlee told fellow Officer Joel Fertakis just moments after the shooting that the man, later identified as Patterson, had pulled a gun out of his pants.

“Officer Brownlee heard a loud ‘pop’ and felt Patterson had fired a round, more than likely at him,” Fertakis wrote in his report. “Officer Brownlee, who had drawn his service Glock, then fired 3-4 rounds at Patterson, striking him at least once.”

Prior to the shooting, Brownlee had responded to the call by homeowner Eric R. Gilberts, who had seen Patterson lying on his porch in the early hours of May 1. When Brownlee attempted to awaken Patterson, he began to yell at the police officer to leave him alone, according to the reports.

Brownlee warned Patterson that he would use his Taser if Patterson didn’t calm down. The officer fired the Taser and Patterson yelled an obscenity, the report states.

Gilberts “looked out the window again … he could see that Patterson was holding a handgun which he had pointed in the direction of Officer Brownlee,” the reports states. “He heard officer Brownlee yell ‘Drop it!’ three or four times.”

Gilberts backed away from the window, and he said he heard three gunshots. When he looked out the window again, Patterson was lying on the ground in the front yard, according to the reports.

The investigation determined that Brownlee had fired three rounds out of his .40 caliber service pistol. After several other officers arrived, Brownlee gave his brief account of the confrontation to Officer Fertakis. But later at the Public Safety Building, Brownlee declined, through a union representative, to give an interview to sheriff’s Detective Rob Sherar. Under a protocol adopted recently, the Sheriff’s Office investigates critical incidents involving Spokane police, and vice versa.

“(Spokane police Detective Jeff) Harvey advised that Officer Brownlee had declined to provide any further information at that time and that I would be able to schedule an interview with him following a standard period of 48 hours during which time Officer Brownlee would be given the opportunity to fully recall the details of the incident,” Sherar’s report states.

But the investigative file does not include any follow-up interview. Asked why, sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan said the report should have included Brownlee’s statement if he provided one.

“Police officers have the right to be interviewed or not interviewed just like any other citizen,” Reagan said.

But Kirkpatrick said she had a simple answer to the question of why Brownlee didn’t give a statement to sheriff’s detectives: “Because they haven’t asked for it.”

She pointed out that it was not her place to direct how the Sheriff’s Office handled the investigation and that prosecutors can ask Brownlee for a statement at a later time.

Prosecutor Steve Tucker did not return messages Friday to his office and cell phone. The phone message for Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Jack Driscoll indicated that he will be out of the office until Monday.

Brownlee, 44, has been a Spokane police officer since September 1996 after serving 10 years with the Idaho State Police. He was placed on unpaid leave for a couple days after the incident but has since returned to work.

Detective Sherar was able to interview Patterson hours after the shooting, according to his report. But Patterson, who was in and out of consciousness, said he could not remember anything about the incident.