Family of Otto Zehm

A pending claim against the city of Spokane for the actions of eight police officers who confronted Zehm in a North Side convenience store was entered into the city’s claims database in March 2006.

Zehm’s family hasn’t filed a claim, but the city has listed it anyway.

Breean Beggs of the Center for Justice and civil rights attorney Jeffry Finer are representing the family.

Pam Schroeder, the city’s risk manager, said she is prohibited from discussing any potential claims.

Zehm, a 36-year-old janitor with mental disabilities, died after a violent struggle with police on March 18, 2006.

The first officers who rushed into the store to apprehend Zehm had been told by a dispatcher that he may have robbed two women at a nearby ATM – information that later proved false.

Police Tasered and beat Zehm, hogtied him and left him on his stomach for about 16 minutes – a violation of department procedures – and put a rigid plastic mask over his face to keep him from spitting. The mask was not attached to an oxygen supply.

Zehm died two days later without ever regaining consciousness.

On May 30, 2006, the medical examiner ruled Zehm died as a result of homicide. The cause: lack of oxygen to the brain due to heart failure while being restrained on his stomach.

Investigations by the county prosecutor and the FBI are ongoing.

A settlement in the Zehm case could easily exceed the full amount of the city’s insurance fund, said Spokane attorney George Critchlow, who is not involved in the litigation. “That one case – Zehm – could take the whole fund, easily. They’ll fight that case and they’ll fight it hard, but I believe they’ll pay out big,” he predicted.

Status: Negotiations between the city and lawyers for Zehm’s family are under way, and all parties are awaiting the FBI report.