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Spokane to pay $64,000 settlement for police vehicle crash during 2022 shooting hoax

Law enforcement swarm Lewis and Clark High School on Dec. 9, 2022, after a report of a school shooting that was later determined to be a hoax. Police said they had swept the entire school and found no indication of a shooting. The Spokane City Council on Monday agreed to a settlement that resulted from a police car getting into a crash in the way to the scene. (COLIN MULVANY/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
By Emry Dinman emryd@spokesman.com(509) 459-5472

The owner of a Spokane Valley company will receive roughly $64,000 from the city of Spokane three years after a police vehicle responding to a false alarm crashed into one of its vans.

Officer William Braten was one of many on Dec. 9, 2022, responding to reports of an active shooter on the Lewis and Clark High School campus that later proved to be a hoax.

Braten reportedly ran a red light due to the ice and snow on the roadway and crashed into a Spokane Fire and Restoration van. The company is owned by Ryan Enquist.

The 2022 collision reportedly caused nearly $35,000 in damages. The van was out of service for a year due to difficulty acquiring replacement parts during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the claim for damages filed by Enquist’s attorney, the company was forced to use an employee’s private vehicle while the van was out for repairs until the employee, who “grew tired of having to use his own vehicle,” quit.

“This results in loss of production and other hardships for (the company) but for the sake of simplicity and in the interest of resolution, claims related to those issues are omitted in this demand,” wrote Winston Matthews, Enquist’s attorney.