Skip ads and navigation
Advertising
Our network sites seattlepi.comHelp

Mistrial ends police wrongful-firing case

Friday, February 11, 2000

By KIMBERLY A.C. WILSON and ELAINE PORTERFIELD
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS

After months of testimony and five days of jury deliberations, a wrongful-discharge case that challenged the credibility of top Seattle Police Department officials ended yesterday in a mistrial.

Police Chief Norm Stamper and Assistant Chief Clark Kimerer were among those who defended the department during the trial against claims of police brutality and an elaborate coverup.

The lawsuit was brought by Paul Vang, a former officer trainee, who says the department retaliated against him for blowing the whistle after allegedly witnessing officers beat a black teenager in September 1996.

Attorney Scott Blankenship argued Vang was forced to quit when he refused to help conceal the beating.

Photo  
Officer Paul Vang
Gil Arias/P-I Photo 		 
City attorneys contend Vang left the force after becoming overwhelmed by the stress of police work and the responsibility of being the department's first officer of Hmong descent.

"But if they want to retry it, we're ready to go," Assistant City Attorney Marilyn Sherron said yesterday.

Jurors said they were deadlocked 6-4 in favor of the city when King County Superior Court Judge Larry Jordan declared the mistrial shortly after 10:30 a.m. Two jurors had abstained from voting.

Vang, who sought $800,000 in damages, wasn't in court yesterday. He is now a police officer in Appleton, Wis.

Blankenship broke into a grin when the jury was dismissed.

"We're looking forward to trying the case again," he said later. "The jurors, I think, did a good job. I think Paul Vang had a strong case."

Juror Jean Bryan said Vang's case against the city rang true. The retired librarian from Bellevue said she believed the department mistreated the trainee.

"I think with the kind of jury that we had . . ., mostly middle-class, white, it can be very difficult to believe that the fine policemen on the stand could be telling anything but the truth. I chose to see two sides to the story."

Juror Ashlyn Reynolds of Seattle favored the Police Department. "I was leaning for the city. I don't believe Paul Vang proved his case."

Officers said 17-year-old Demetrius Fisher threw a punch at one of them in a holding cell and it took three of them to restrain him. Fisher wound up being convicted of assault.

The jury could not reach agreement on whether police used excessive force on Fisher, said juror Julee Jensen of Seattle.

Janice Corbin, personnel director for the Police Department, thanked jurors for their commitment but expressed frustration that they were side-tracked by the beating story.

"Employment cases are very complex," Corbin said. "The jury got confused by the sensationalism of the case, but this is an employment matter. . . . We are still steadfast that we didn't do anything wrong."

In a brief unsigned statement yesterday, the Police Department thanked jurors "for the numerous personal sacrifices they made during the trial."

However, the department said it was "very disappointed that some (jury) members were unable to separate the facts of the case from the sensationalism and baseless allegations made by the plaintiffs, and after three months of courtroom proceedings were unable to reach a verdict."

Jurors celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas during the trial and had decorated the jury room with a Valentine's Day floral arrangement. Some wore red heart-shaped stickers on their juror identification tags yesterday.

Most expressed relief at the end of jury duty, which was interrupted by the massive public demonstrations surrounding the World Trade Organization meetings in downtown Seattle.

Although the demonstrations generated considerable media coverage about whether appropriate police force was used, every juror questioned yesterday said it didn't factor into their deliberations.

"We weren't supposed to consider it," Jensen said. "WTO was not at all a part of this case."

Juror Carmen Olbera of Kent said she was neutral about the testimony of police brass in general.

But as for Kimerer, who was head of the Internal Investigations Unit when Vang reported the beating, she said:

"I did not find his testimony credible."

P-I reporter Elaine Porterfield can be reached at 206-467-5942 or elaineporterfield@seattle-pi.com

OUR AFFILIATES
NWsource KOMO
Pacific Publishing

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
101 Elliott Ave. W.
Seattle, WA 98119
(206) 448-8000

Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820
seattlepi.com serves about 1.7 million unique visitors
and 30 million page views each month.

Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com
Send investigative tips to iteam@seattlepi.com
©1996-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Terms of Use/Privacy Policy

Hearst Newspapers