In brief: City voting early on Zehm settlement

Sat., May 19, 2012

From Staff And Wire Reports

The Spokane City Council on Monday will vote on the proposed mediated settlement in the Otto Zehm case.

City Council President Ben Stuckart said at the news conference on Tuesday when the deal was announced that the council would suspend its rules so that it could be approved Monday instead of waiting an extra week.

The settlement appears to enjoy strong support from the full council.

The city and its insurance company agreed to pay Zehm’s estate $1.67 million. The city also agreed to provide all officers special training and to name an unidentified park structure after Zehm.

Zehm, 36, died in 2006 after he was confronted by police in a north Spokane convenience store and was shocked, beaten and hog-tied. The first responding officer was convicted by a federal jury last year of using excessive force.

Facebook photos lead to suspect

A robbery victim identified her cousin as an accomplice in the crime after seeing incriminating photos on Facebook, according to Spokane police.

The woman was sitting in her living room on East Cataldo Avenue with her cousin, Shakayla F. Delcambre, 20, Thursday about 12:45 a.m. when a man holding a red bandanna that covered what she believed to be a handgun entered and demanded money from her, according to court documents.

The man took her wallet from her purse and put her in a chokehold before she broke free and he ran out the front door, police say.

The woman realized Delcambre knew her attacker when she saw photos of her with him on Facebook, police say. The woman noted to police that Delcambre had borrowed her cellphone to make a call prior to the robbery. Police identified the robber as James J. Williams, 28.

Officers viewed the Facebook photos of Delcambre and Williams, according to court documents.

State crime rates down in 2011

Crime rates dropped across the state in 2011, according to an annual report from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.

The total crime rate fell to 38.3 crimes per 1,000 residents, down 3.4 percent from the 2010 rate.

The report said the violent crime rate also fell, down 5 percent from 2010. There were 19,568 violent crimes reported in the state in 2011, about 60 percent of them being aggravated assaults.

The rate of property crimes fell 3.3 percent from 2010, and there were a total of 239,428 property crimes reported. Two-thirds of those were larceny or theft offenses.

The report found no law enforcement officers were killed on the job in 2011, although assaults on officers rose 2.9 percent from 2010, to 1,049.

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