SEATTLE — In a settlement reached with the family of a 37-year-old Black man shot and killed by Olympia police in 2022, the city will pay $600,000 and has agreed to ban officers from the "personalization" of their equipment, effectively bringing to an end the display of polarizing symbols like the "thin blue line" flag.
Details of the unusual settlement of a wrongful death tort claim filed by the family of Timothy Green were announced by lawyers on Monday.
The agreement also requires that Olympia police Chief Rich Allen, his deputy and assistant chiefs and the four officers involved in Green's death complete state training "on the historical intersection between race and policing." Furthermore, the city agreed to demands that all Olympia police officers receive more training on crisis intervention.
As part of the settlement, the police department is required to update its policy within one year to broadly prohibit officers from decorating their equipment, no matter the subject matter, rather than banning any particular symbols. During the fatal encounter with Green, officers had displayed Blue Lives Matter emblems and a sticker reminiscent of the "Don't Tread on Me" flag.
The training requirements and policy changes were required by Green's family members, who were prepared to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city if their demands weren't met, the lawyers said.
"The settlement requires the Olympia Police Department to take steps addressing the use of force, crisis intervention, and police culture," said Olympia civil rights attorney Leslie Cushman, who, along with Seattle attorney Gabe Galanda, represented the family and fashioned the settlement.
"We have been forever impacted by the death of a son, a brother, a father, and uncle," the family said in a statement. "Tim did not deserve to die this way. And we do not want this to happen to anyone else."
Data from the Olympia Police Department's auditor shows that, while overall use of force by officers is down 24% since 2022, the vast majority of those cases — 83% — involved people in crisis.
"Using force against people in crisis is a bad practice and will inevitably result in more injuries and deaths in Olympia," Cushman said in a statement.
The family is also asking the Thurston County Prosecutor's Office to reopen a criminal investigation into the shooting. The prosecutor found the shooting justified and lawful in December 2023.
Cushman was the author of Initiative 940, which overhauled the state's deadly force laws and put in place new requirements for police to focus on de-escalation. She pointed out the recent conviction for second-degree murder of Auburn police Officer Jeff Nelson under I-940's provisions should prompt a second look at Green's death.
The family has also filed complaints against the four involved officers with the Criminal Justice Training Commission, seeking to have their law enforcement certification revoked.
According to reports obtained by the family, Olympia police knew Green and had responded to calls about his erratic behavior at least four times in the months leading up to the shooting.
Two of the officers who responded to the call that led to Green's death — Sgt. Joseph Bellamy and Joseph Anderson — had responded to Green's house just two days earlier. According to the tort claim, they knew he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and had been off his medications.
It was Anderson who fired the three bullets that ended Green's life.
On Aug. 22, 2022, Anderson, Bellamy and two other officers — Brenda Anderson and Caleb Shaffer — responded to a report of a disturbance at a Starbucks at 4131 Martin Way in Olympia. Callers reported a man screaming and "banging around" inside the store.
Green, obviously in crisis and acting out, was overheard saying he wanted to "kill everyone in the town" and said, "Call the cops."
When Joseph Anderson arrived just after 10:20 a.m., Green was "punching the ground" by the side of the store. As other officers arrived, he walked away into traffic. The dispatchers noted that Green was known to be mentally ill, and Anderson acknowledged that he was the same person from the previous call two days earlier and appeared "very hostile."
Bellamy, a supervisor, showed up at about 10:30 a.m. and determined that cause existed to arrest Green for misdemeanor disorderly conduct and pedestrian interference. Bellamy returned to his patrol car to get a 40-mm less-lethal projectile launcher, while the other three officers moved to surround Green near the Starbucks drive-thru, according to reports.
The claim alleges Green became frightened and poured the contents of a backpack on the ground, retrieving a softcover Bible and a folding knife. Witnesses said Green held the Bible to his head and appear to be praying at one point. According to the claim, officers Brenda Anderson and Shaffer both Tased him, but failed to incapacitate him. That's when Anderson shot him three times, according to the claim.
The claim said the family was offended because evidence showed Anderson, after shooting Green, began lifesaving measures while wearing tactical gloves adorned with "Blue Lives Matter" insignia.
And Bellamy, the sergeant, removed a department-issued laptop from his car just minutes after the shooting that was decorated with a thin blue-and-red line flag — representing law enforcement and firefighters — and a badge depicting a cartoonish coiled snake with the words "Don't Step on Snek" below. Cushman points out that Olympia Police Department policy requires that "all aspects" of a crime scene be preserved."
The coiled-snake symbol became popular during Donald Trump's presidency "as a sign of defiance against the 'invading left wing,'" according to documents cited by Cushman.
Cushman said the snake sticker is known to be a reiteration of the colonial "Don't Tread on Me" flag that has been co-opted by right-wing, anti-government ideologies.
The Blue Lives Matter symbol carries similar baggage, Cushman said. The phrase gained prominence in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests against police violence after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020. Critics consider it a racist "identity ideology" that signals opposition to the racial justice movement and has been used as a symbol of white supremacy.
"The 'No Step on Snek' rattlesnake exhibits anti-government ideology within OPD," Cushman wrote. The Blue Lives Matter flags and symbols "exhibit anti-Black ideology within OPD."
___
©2024 The Seattle Times.
Visit seattletimes.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
