Kirkpatrick ignored rules

A successful lawsuit against Spokane police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick and the city for over $700,000 was to be expected. When the chief, who is also an attorney, ignores the department’s rules and regulations as they apply to disciplining employees, there is no other choice for a jury to make. In Kirkpatrick’s statement printed in the Nov. 5 edition of The Spokesman-Review, she states: “On one hand, the community had begged me and begged me to hold officers accountable and what do I get? But I’m not going to look the other way because I got a verdict against me.”

In a far more serious matter, concerning Otto Zehm’s untimely death at the hands of a number of police officers under their charge, Kirkpatrick and Mayor Mary Verner became the key players in the cover-up of this crime. Does Kirkpatrick think the public doesn’t remember her making the statement, “Thompson has my unequivocal support. Based on all the information and evidence I have reviewed, I have determined that Officer Karl Thompson acted consistent with the law”? And who can forget Verner, Kirkpatrick’s boss, making the statement “I don’t think the behavior of the officer rose to a criminal behavior”?

Tony Bamonte

Spokane