Otto Zehm
Encyclopedia
Otto Zehm was a mentally disabled man from Spokane, Washington
who died on March 20, 2006, two days after being beaten, tasered multiple times, and improperly restrained by seven Spokane Police Officers. Zehm committed no crime and on May 30, 2006, the Spokane County coroner ruled the death a homicide
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at his bank to withdraw money from his account. Two young women, who were in a car at the ATM when Zehm arrived, erroneously reported to police by phone that a man was attempting to steal money from the ATM. The women followed Zehm in their car while reporting additional information to the police dispatch by phone.
Zehm next entered the convenience store that he routinely visited to buy a soft drink and fast food. Video from the convenience store security cameras show that within sixteen seconds of the first officer entering the store, the officer had run up to Zehm, whose back was initially turned to him, and batoned Zehm to the ground - the first of at least seven baton strikes used on Zehm. Within another sixteen seconds Zehm had also been tasered. In addition to the multiple beatings and taserings, Zehm was improperly hog-tied by police and placed on his stomach for more than sixteen minutes. Furthermore, the police requested a non-rebreather mask
from paramedics at the scene and strapped it to Zehm's face. The non-rebreather mask was not attached to oxygen. Zehm stopped breathing three minutes after the mask was placed on his face. When ruled a homicide by the county coroner on May 30, 2006, the cause of death was reported as "lack of oxygen to the brain due to heart failure while being restrained on his stomach." No illegal drugs or alcohol were found in Zehm's system.
" after being involved in an October 11, 2007, incident involving alcohol and allegations of sexual misconduct. At the time of that incident, Uberuaga was a member of a federal law enforcement task force.
Almost exactly a year after his involvement in Zehm's death, Officer Torok shot and killed a homeless man, Jerome Alford, on March 24, 2007. Following a Spokane area practice in which the Spokane Police and Spokane County Sheriff's Office investigate one another in officer involved deaths, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office was assigned to investigate the shooting of Alford by Torok. Spokane Chief of Police Anne E. Kirkpatrick ordered Torok to provide a written statement, known as a Garrity letter, rather than submit to questioning by the Spokane County Sheriff's Office. Garrity letters are so infrequently used in the area that Spokane County Sheriff's personnel did not initially accept the letter from Torok. Final results of the Sheriff's investigation were never made public. Currently Torok is a Spokane Police Department detective supervising assignments of child abuse cases, and also acting frequently as a spokesperson for the Spokane Police. He is also a controversial participant in on-line blogging at Spokane's only daily newspaper, the Spokesman-Review. In August 2007, he and a colleague, Sgt. Jim Faddis, were discovered blogging anonymously at a Spokesman-Review affiliated blog, Hard 7, until blog manager Frank Sennett discovered their identities and employment with the Spokane Police. Recently another Spokesman-Review blog, Community Comment, has given Torok and Faddis, a former internal affairs officer, semi-official status at Police Blotter, a periodic blog thread identified by a reproduction of the Spokane Police badge at the Spokesman-Review's online blog site.
, a group of some 200 people gathered a block from Spokane's Public Safety Building demanding independent oversight of the Spokane Police Department. At the end of the rally, a group of people entered the street and marched to City Hall where they presented their concerns to the Spokane City Council.
The case also prompted intense scrutiny by the local media and calls for independent oversight. A series of public meetings were held in the first half of 2007, including a three part series on Police Accountability at Gonzaga University. Participants in the series included Breean Beggs of Spokane's Center for Justice, independent journalist Tim Connor, Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, Spokane City Councilwoman (now mayor) Mary Verner
, and others. The series, sponsored by the ACLU, the League of Women Voters
, and the Peace and Justice Action League (PJALS), culminated in a growing consensus that an appropriate step to address the concerns about police misconduct would be an independent ombudsman
styled after the Boise (Idaho) Office of the Community Ombudsman headed by Pierce Murphy. Murphy visited Spokane several times including to participate in one of the Police Accountability forums at Gonzaga. Murphy also spoke prior to a Whitworth University theater production on Police Accountability and the death of Zehm. The unique event -- Crossing the Line: An Examination of Police, Power and People -- was held on May 16, 2008 at Spokane's CenterStage
.
The Federal Trial against Thompson began on Wednesday, October 12th with jury selection. The trial was moved from Spokane to Yakima, Washington
after defense attorneys raised concerns about the extent of local media coverage of the controversy. U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle also ruled to exclude Spokane County from the jury pool. While Van Sickle said he’s not persuaded that the publicity has created “actual” or “perceived” bias against Thompson, he decided to move the trial nonetheless.
On November 2nd, 2011 the jury found Officer Thompson guilty on both counts; excessive use of force and lying to investigators about the confrontation.
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
who died on March 20, 2006, two days after being beaten, tasered multiple times, and improperly restrained by seven Spokane Police Officers. Zehm committed no crime and on May 30, 2006, the Spokane County coroner ruled the death a homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
.
Incident and death
On March 18, 2006, Zehm — who worked as a janitor and did not own a car — had gone on foot to an ATMAutomated teller machine
An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...
at his bank to withdraw money from his account. Two young women, who were in a car at the ATM when Zehm arrived, erroneously reported to police by phone that a man was attempting to steal money from the ATM. The women followed Zehm in their car while reporting additional information to the police dispatch by phone.
Zehm next entered the convenience store that he routinely visited to buy a soft drink and fast food. Video from the convenience store security cameras show that within sixteen seconds of the first officer entering the store, the officer had run up to Zehm, whose back was initially turned to him, and batoned Zehm to the ground - the first of at least seven baton strikes used on Zehm. Within another sixteen seconds Zehm had also been tasered. In addition to the multiple beatings and taserings, Zehm was improperly hog-tied by police and placed on his stomach for more than sixteen minutes. Furthermore, the police requested a non-rebreather mask
Non-rebreather mask
A non-rebreather mask, or NRB, is a device used in medical emergencies that require oxygen therapy. An NRB requires that the patient can breathe unassisted, but unlike low flow nasal cannula, the NRB allows for the delivery of higher concentrations of oxygen.-Design:The non-rebreather mask covers...
from paramedics at the scene and strapped it to Zehm's face. The non-rebreather mask was not attached to oxygen. Zehm stopped breathing three minutes after the mask was placed on his face. When ruled a homicide by the county coroner on May 30, 2006, the cause of death was reported as "lack of oxygen to the brain due to heart failure while being restrained on his stomach." No illegal drugs or alcohol were found in Zehm's system.
Discrepancies resulting from video analysis
Police alleged that Zehm had "lunged" at the original officer with a plastic soft drink bottle. However, video of the incident withheld by the police for three months after the incident contradicted this police claim. Then-acting police chief Jim Nicks subsequently stated that he misspoke in alleging Zehm "lunged" at the officer.Investigative reports
In August 2006 an independent report on Zehm's death was commissioned by then-Spokane mayor Dennis Hession. Known as the Worley Report, after law enforcement consultant Michael Worley, the report was commissioned, to look at the three matters—the Zehm homicide, a Spokane Fire Department sex scandal, and the Spokane City Citizens Review Commission. Worley's findings were made public in a report released on October 26, 2007, but covered only the Fire Department sex scandal and the Citizens Advisory Commission. Worley submitted the incomplete report, for which the City of Spokane paid $8800, pending the completion of other then-pending investigations of the Zehm death, including investigations by the Spokane County Prosecutor's Office, the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC), and the FBI. As of August 18, 2008, the FBI has not closed its investigation of the case and has made no public statements regarding the status of that investigation.Controversy involving officers
Three of the seven officers involved in the attack on Zehm received one day of administrative leave (paid). Beyond that, no Spokane Police officer or administrator has been disciplined or suspended or fired as a result of the case. However, one officer involved in the case, Spokane Police officer Jason Uberuaga, was subsequently fired for "conduct unbecomingConduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman
Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman is an offense subject to court martial defined in the punitive code, Article 133, of the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice , enacted at ....
" after being involved in an October 11, 2007, incident involving alcohol and allegations of sexual misconduct. At the time of that incident, Uberuaga was a member of a federal law enforcement task force.
Officer Dan Torok
A second Spokane Police officer involved in the Zehm case is Dan Torok. In the Zehm case, Torok provided a written statement in which he stated, "When my knee struck him, I heard him exhale and I was able to force his arm behind his back." In addition to Torok's knee in his chest, Zehm was subjected to being hog-tied and placed on his chest for 16 minutes, as well as being subjected to a non-rebreather mask placed on his face without oxygen attached, thus limiting his ability to breath. Zehm stopped breathing and was transported by para-medic to a Spokane area hospital where he was declared brain-dead and died two days later. Otto Zehm's last words were, "All I wanted was a Snickers Bar"Almost exactly a year after his involvement in Zehm's death, Officer Torok shot and killed a homeless man, Jerome Alford, on March 24, 2007. Following a Spokane area practice in which the Spokane Police and Spokane County Sheriff's Office investigate one another in officer involved deaths, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office was assigned to investigate the shooting of Alford by Torok. Spokane Chief of Police Anne E. Kirkpatrick ordered Torok to provide a written statement, known as a Garrity letter, rather than submit to questioning by the Spokane County Sheriff's Office. Garrity letters are so infrequently used in the area that Spokane County Sheriff's personnel did not initially accept the letter from Torok. Final results of the Sheriff's investigation were never made public. Currently Torok is a Spokane Police Department detective supervising assignments of child abuse cases, and also acting frequently as a spokesperson for the Spokane Police. He is also a controversial participant in on-line blogging at Spokane's only daily newspaper, the Spokesman-Review. In August 2007, he and a colleague, Sgt. Jim Faddis, were discovered blogging anonymously at a Spokesman-Review affiliated blog, Hard 7, until blog manager Frank Sennett discovered their identities and employment with the Spokane Police. Recently another Spokesman-Review blog, Community Comment, has given Torok and Faddis, a former internal affairs officer, semi-official status at Police Blotter, a periodic blog thread identified by a reproduction of the Spokane Police badge at the Spokesman-Review's online blog site.
Analysis and impact
The Zehm case provoked public outrage, including protests and public challenges to the Spokane Police by critics. On July 9, 2007, in the wake of another police scandal involving the arrest on July 4, 2007 of 17 people in Spokane's Riverfront ParkRiverfront Park
Riverfront Park may refer to:* Allegheny Riverfront Park, a small municipal park along the south bank of the Allegheny River* North Shore Riverfront Park, a small municipal park along the north banks of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers...
, a group of some 200 people gathered a block from Spokane's Public Safety Building demanding independent oversight of the Spokane Police Department. At the end of the rally, a group of people entered the street and marched to City Hall where they presented their concerns to the Spokane City Council.
The case also prompted intense scrutiny by the local media and calls for independent oversight. A series of public meetings were held in the first half of 2007, including a three part series on Police Accountability at Gonzaga University. Participants in the series included Breean Beggs of Spokane's Center for Justice, independent journalist Tim Connor, Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, Spokane City Councilwoman (now mayor) Mary Verner
Mary Verner
Mary Verner is the current mayor of Spokane, Washington.- Education :Originally from Fitzgerald, Georgia, Verner received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from Davidson College, earned her Master of Arts degree in environmental management from Yale University, and a law degree from...
, and others. The series, sponsored by the ACLU, the League of Women Voters
League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters is an American political organization founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote...
, and the Peace and Justice Action League (PJALS), culminated in a growing consensus that an appropriate step to address the concerns about police misconduct would be an independent ombudsman
Ombudsman
An ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...
styled after the Boise (Idaho) Office of the Community Ombudsman headed by Pierce Murphy. Murphy visited Spokane several times including to participate in one of the Police Accountability forums at Gonzaga. Murphy also spoke prior to a Whitworth University theater production on Police Accountability and the death of Zehm. The unique event -- Crossing the Line: An Examination of Police, Power and People -- was held on May 16, 2008 at Spokane's CenterStage
Centerstage
CenterStage, now obsolete, was a media center software application with a 10-foot user interface design for the living-room TV that allows digital content stored on an Apple Macintosh computer running Mac OS X to be played on a standard television set....
.
Federal indictment and trial
On June 22, 2009, a federal Grand Jury handed down an indictment on Spokane Police Officer Karl Thompson. Thompson is a veteran of the force and was the first of seven officers that responded to the Zip Trip. The 2 counts are: unreasonable use of force and making a false entry into a record being investigated by a federal agency. Both counts are felonies and could hold a 20 year maximum sentence if Thompson is convicted on both charges. The unreasonable use of force stems from the surveillance video that shows Thompson approaching Zehm from behind and striking him to the ground, followed by multiple blows with his baton and deploying his taser. Zehm was not acting combative at the time of the initial blow and only started fighting back after Thompson engaged Zehm with force. Federal prosecutors did confirm that the unreasonable use of force is only pertaining to a civil rights violation for Zehm's injury and not his death. It is unclear at this time if more indictments will be handed down for Zehm's death or for his improper restraint for being hog-tied on his stomach with a non-rebreather mask. Thompson has been put on immediate paid administrative leave pending the trial.The Federal Trial against Thompson began on Wednesday, October 12th with jury selection. The trial was moved from Spokane to Yakima, Washington
Yakima, Washington
Yakima is an American city southeast of Mount Rainier National Park and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, United States, and the eighth largest city by population in the state itself. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 91,196 and a metropolitan population of...
after defense attorneys raised concerns about the extent of local media coverage of the controversy. U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle also ruled to exclude Spokane County from the jury pool. While Van Sickle said he’s not persuaded that the publicity has created “actual” or “perceived” bias against Thompson, he decided to move the trial nonetheless.
On November 2nd, 2011 the jury found Officer Thompson guilty on both counts; excessive use of force and lying to investigators about the confrontation.
See also
- Positional asphyxiaPositional asphyxiaPositional asphyxia, also known as postural asphyxia, is a form of asphyxia which occurs when someone's position prevents them from breathing adequately. A small but significant number of people die suddenly and without apparent reason during restraint by police, prison officers and health care...
- List of killings by law enforcement officers in the United States