Above: Olympia Police Chief Ronnie Roberts provides a brief statement at Olympia City Hall today following Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim's findings about the police officer involved shooting of two men on May 21.
Ad Hoc Committee Set To Next Meet on September 9
By Janine Unsoeld
Today, Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim released
his findings about the Olympia police officer involved shooting of two African
American men that occurred May 21st.
His decision and a statement today from Olympia
Police Chief Ronnie Roberts are both on the City of Olympia website at www.olympiawa.gov.
Tunheim’s review of the case in which Olympia police
office Ryan Donald shot Bryson Chaplin and Andre Thompson is available at www.co.thurston.wa.us/pao/
Tunheim concluded that the officer’s actions were
justified and he did not act in bad faith or with malice.
“While I have spent many hours examining and analyzing this evidence, Officer Donald had only seconds prior to each shooting event to make the decision to use deadly force. In fact, the radio traffic demonstrates conclusively that only a matter of seconds passed between Donald's first call about spotting the suspects and the first shots fired call. The remaining events unfolded in just under three minutes....”
The two men have been charged with assault.
“There is sufficient admissible evidence to believe
that a reasonable fact finder could find beyond a reasonable doubt that Chaplin
and Thompson committed the crime of Assault in Second Degree on Officer Donald
and of Assault in the 4th degree on the Safeway employee,” says the
report's review.
Charges have been filed and summons’ issued.
Arraignment is set for Tuesday, September 22.
Olympia Police Chief Ronnie Roberts held a press
conference at Olympia City Hall two hours after the release of Tunheim's report. In his comments, which lasted
about five minutes, Roberts said that the Olympia Police Department will now begin
an internal review of the incident to determine whether the actions of Officer
Donald violated any department policies and procedures.
The shooting review team will be comprised of Deputy Chief Steve
Nelson, Lieutenant Aaron Jelcick, Deputy City Attorney Darren Nienaber, Edward
Prince, Executive Director for the Commission on African American Affairs, and
a designated police guild representative.
“The review team will convene as soon as can be
scheduled with a goal of completing their work within two weeks. We will
immediately release the results of this review once it is concluded,
Karen Johnson of The Black Alliance of Thurston
County handed out a statement at the press conference. It states, in part:
“This is indeed a sad day for those of us who
believe in justice for all....Thurston
County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim’s decision announced today is lawful, yet unjust.
It reflects the warped and unfair system design that we have mobilized to
change. We are disappointed by the prosecutor’s decision, yet we are not
surprised by it.
“The upcoming internal review process led by the
Olympia Police Department basically requires law enforcement officers to sit in
judgment of each other. This does not provide the public with true police
accountability. It is time to change the relevant laws, rules, and civil
service procedures governing police conduct. It is time for independent oversight
and review of police conduct in cases where excessive use of force may have
occurred.”
According to the release, The Black Alliance of
Thurston County is committed to building trust and promoting fair and impartial
policing in Thurston County.
Chief Roberts referred to the group as one that he
has been meeting with over the last few weeks.
“We have had difficult, honest and productive
conversation about institutional bias in the criminal justice system,
educational systems and other governmental services. These conversations have
generated several actionable steps that can be taken to demonstrate OPD’s
commitment to bias free policing….” said Roberts.
For more information on The Black Alliance of
Thurston County, email BlackAllianceThurstonCounty@gmail.com.
Full Circle United, a community group involved in providing financial assistance to the two men shot and their families, invites the community to speak out about the prosecutor's decision. The group will meet at the corner of State Street and Cherry St in downtown Olympia at 6:00 p.m. Thursday evening.
“This event is solely for amplifying the voices of black people in this community. We are asking that individuals who identify as black or African-American and feel comfortable addressing crowds please come prepared to speak up.
“Others are invited and encouraged to come participate, and must understand that their role in supporting us is to LISTEN,” says the notice.
Ad
Hoc Committee on Police and Community Relations
The next meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Police
and Community Relations will be September 9, 5:00 p.m., with the location still to be
announced.
The city is off to a poor start in terms of transparency
and bringing the public along in the process of this group.
As of this writing, the city website page for the Ad
Hoc Committee still lists the August 26 meeting, its first meeting, and does
not yet mention the September 9 meeting, nor is it listed on the city calendar.
It is listed on the city’s meeting schedule at https://olympia.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx
The meeting date was mentioned by Mayor Stephen
Buxbaum in his council report at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
The group’s second meeting was actually scheduled
for September 2, but postponed. The upcoming meeting is a work session for the
committee to decide on a future schedule and community outreach
techniques.
Yesterday, Little
Hollywood requested the city email addresses for the committee members,
which are not yet listed on the city website. On August 18, Mayor Buxbaum said that
individual committee members would have city email addresses.
Today, Kandace Johnson, secretary for the Olympia
Police Department, and staff to the committee wrote:
“….I have had other requests regarding the committee member emails and I am looking into whether I can release that or not and will get back to you. This is the central inbox for the committee and any information sent here will be distributed to the committee members.”
“….I have had other requests regarding the committee member emails and I am looking into whether I can release that or not and will get back to you. This is the central inbox for the committee and any information sent here will be distributed to the committee members.”
For now, the email address for public comment and
reaching committee members is PCR@ci.olympia.wa.us
For
past articles about the Olympia Police Department, the shooting of Bryson
Chaplin and Andre Thompson, body cameras, and the Ad Hoc Committee on Police
and Community Relations, go to Little Hollywood, www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com,
and type key words into the search engine.
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