Pullman Police Department settles lawsuit for $75,000

The city of Pullman and the Pullman Police Department have agreed to pay $75,000 to a Spokane resident who was arrested using an invalid search warrant in late July 2015.

Pullman Police Chief Gary Jenkins said the parties are still negotiating the plaintiff’s attorney fees, which could increase the total settlement.

According to court documents filed Oct. 24, 2016, in the Eastern District of Washington of the United States District Court in Spokane, the man, Tyler Lankford, said the unlawful arrest deprived him of “his liberty and his civil and constitutional rights” and resulted in “mental and emotional stress as he sat in jail for almost two months.”

Lankford sued the city and officers Officer Joshua Bray, Alex Gordon, Todd Dow and Greg Umbright for compensatory damages in the amount $2 million. He also sued each of the officers for punitive damages in the amount of $100,000 each and asked for reasonable attorney’s fees, the costs of the suit incurred and other and further relief as the court saw fit. Whitman County and the state of Washington were listed as co-defendants on the case.

The case began July 25, 2015, when the PPD received a request for a welfare check on Lankford, who at the time was staying at the Quality Inn and Suites in Pullman.

According to the court filings, his aunt, Kathleen Finch, called and spoke to Bray. Bray also spoke with Lankford’s mother, Sherry Bailey, “who stated that she was paying for Lankford’s room at the hotel through July 28, 2015, and that she thought he might be in the possession of some firearms,” the documents say.

The documents state a search warrant was obtained based only on the statements of Finch and Bailey, yet Bray prepared an affidavit for search warrant for felony harassment, “committed upon the person or property of Mikaela Marlow.” The documents do not make it clear how Marlow was involved in the case, but it states Marlow did not make a complaint against Lankford.

“There was no evidence that any firearm had been displayed or had been used in an unlawful manner,” the lawsuit went on to state.

On the morning of July 25, 2015, the PPD called the Moscow Police Department and Whitman County Sheriff’s Office for assistance assembling a special reaction team to respond to check on Lankford’s welfare.

According to court documents, the Whitman County Joint Special Reaction Team was called out and a perimeter was established around the facility. The team evacuated all of the rooms around Lankford, and then the MPD called Lankford’s room. The documents say “Lankford did not feel like talking to the police, so he hung up.” When an officer called back and insisted Lankford come out of his room to talk, he exited and “was immediately surrounded by the SRT team and taken into custody.”

Marijuana was allegedly observed in the room, and detectives seized a 9 mm Glock 17 semiautomatic handgun with a fully loaded 16-round magazine, a .40 Smith and Wesson, a .308 Remington 700 rifle, as well other ammunition and three more loaded magazines.

Lankford was taken into custody and transported to Pullman Regional Hospital, where it was determined he was not a danger to himself or others. He was then transported to Whitman County Jail, where he was charged with felony harassment and possession of a controlled substance.

According to the court documents, the felony harassment charge was dropped, leaving the sole charge of possession of marijuana over 40 grams, a Class C felony.

According to the lawsuit, Lankford was in jail from July 27, 2015, to Sept. 9, 2015, when a judge signed an order, dismissing his case and releasing him from jail, based on the invalidity of the warrant and search.

Jenkins wrote in an email to the Daily News that Lankford’s mother thought he was “unravelling” at the time of the welfare check and his officers also acted on a non-extraditable warrant out of Texas, which stated Lankford was “armed and dangerous.”

“Although a judge ultimately determined the search warrant affidavit was insufficient, thereby invalidating the warrant, Pullman Officers did their due diligence by submitting the search warrant affidavit to a judge for review and consideration, and that judge approved the warrant,” Jenkins wrote in an email. “We see more and more tragedies that, with hindsight, red flags stand out with missed opportunities to intervene and save lives. This is a case where family members and the police did intervene, resulting in a peaceful resolution with no injuries or loss of life to anyone.”