2 deadly police shootings, 2 outcomes, 1 WA county: $3M payout v. qualified immunity

I’ve been thinking a lot about two recent—and very different—legal conclusions reached in deadly police shootings in Pierce County, which both involved officers trying to keep people in mental crisis from getting control of a car and disputes about whether they were a threat. 

In last week’s edition on gun rights and the Pierce County Sheriff election, a candidate’s quote brought a national issue closer to home: the number of police shootings and deaths in custody is on the rise in Pierce County (seven before summer’s in 2024, compared to six or seven total in most years) and across the country since 2020. That's despite recent reforms to use of force policies and the proliferation of mental health co-responder programs. To me, that demands the question: What’s changed?

After the news, I talk with well-known civil rights attorney James Bible, who represents the family of Manuel Ellis¹ and argued one of the other recently concluded cases.

Quincy Bishop

In May, just ahead of trial, the city of Buckley agreed to settle federal civil rights claims from the family of Quincy Bishop for a total of $3 million, including attorney fees. Buckley City Administrator Courtney Brunell told me the settlement was paid through insurance and not subject to City Council approval. She otherwise declined to comment. 

Buckley officer Arthur Fetter, along with a Pierce County deputy and Puyallup officer, shot Bishop several times after a struggle at his car door in November 2020. According to court filings, police wanted to question Bishop after his ex-girlfriend accused him of assaulting her and threatening to hurt their children. 

In small-town Buckley, Bishop’s family was well-known. His father was a retired cop. And Fetter was a friend going back to high school. Fetter also told a supervisor that he’d talked with Bishop’s brother weeks earlier about Bishop threatening his ex-girlfriend and saying he wanted to shoot police and die in a so-called suicide by cop. 

The officer arranged with Bishop’s brother to meet them “as a friend” at home, and Fetter repeatedly told Bishop he wasn’t under arrest before trying to yank him out of his truck. Fetter claimed Bishop was reaching for a handgun in his waistband during the struggle before he fired.

Billy Langfitt IV

Last week, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed federal district court Judge Benjamin Settle’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit against Pierce County in the deadly shooting of Billy Langfitt IV in March 2018 based on qualified immunity². A spokesperson from the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which defends the county against lawsuits, told me their position on the “tragic situation” is unchanged: the deputy acted reasonably under the law.

Langfitt’s girlfriend had called 911 on a rural highway southwest of Graham after he became paranoid and was running into traffic. Deputy Colby Edwards shot Langfitt several times after he first went toward the officer and then tried to jump into the driver’s seat of his patrol car. Edwards and the county have alleged Langfitt was going to use the car to hit bystanders.

At oral arguments last month, Langfitt’s family argued that a jury should decide key disputed facts in the case: whether the deputy reasonably thought a folded piece of paper in Langfitt’s hand was a weapon; if Langfitt was seated in the car or fell in after he was shot; and whether Edwards gave commands before he fired. Attorney Jesse Valdez suggested the deputy should have stayed in his car for backup rather than leaving it running and the door open. 

The panel repeatedly asked the attorneys during oral arguments, “Does it matter whether Billy was in the patrol car or not?” The answer was, apparently, not really?

In the decision, the 9th Circuit justices quoted an 11th Circuit case where an officer shot a man driving off in his patrol car: “Although the parties disagree about how close Langfitt was to operating the patrol vehicle and whether he received any warnings, ‘we think the police need not have taken that chance and hoped for the best.’ ”

Has post-2020 police reform made a difference?

I called up James Bible, a civil rights attorney for the Langfitt family, on Monday to ask him if he’s seen local policing change with reforms in the last several years that are meant to restrict use of force, emphasize de-escalation and hold officers accountable for misconduct.

James Bible: I think one of the things that has changed in the world is that there's more attention to these issues that need to be addressed. Not just by courtrooms but by larger society in terms of how we want police to operate within the boundaries of our country. …

What has changed for those that lose loved ones at the hands of police violence?

Little has changed because they're still losing their loved ones or have lost their loved ones. …

I think that realistically, it becomes a thing where people that are dealing with folks in their own family or loved ones that are mentally ill think twice about calling the police at all for assistance. Or calling anyone for assistance. …

And then I think that one of the bigger questions is, ‘What's changed here?’ You said Tacoma. And that's fair because I think in other places around the country, it may have changed; people may have reflected. But in the mostly progressive Pacific Northwest, we stayed relatively stagnant. I think that we've been in the place where even with the rules and the laws and the changes that we've made, they just cover and further institutionalize their problems.

Bible says that improving transparency and policing requires more cases to go before juries. But qualified immunity is a big barrier to getting to trial.

Bible: Fankly, in a lot of places around the country, cases are being dismissed in exactly this sort of way: without the merits being addressed in a court of law in front of a jury that made very well say what happened didn't need to happen. …

At this stage in our society, for all of our advances, justice is still inconsistent. I think absolutely that Jeff Nelson should have been convicted of his crimes [for killing Jesse Sarey in 2019]. It was proven and the jury reviewed it and decided the same thing. 

I look to Manuel Ellis’ matter and I think that the state proved their case, that the case was clear, that there was all the evidence to justify a conviction but we didn't get a conviction. So much of that involves the individual players that are part of the institution, whether it be the judge, what the judge decided, and how the judge decided to rule, not rule or even comment on the evidence³. …

We are in an interesting time in that two fairly significant police cases actually went to criminal trial in our region, which is highly unusual. And even having said that, I believe that more should have. …

I'm of the opinion that these cases should go to a jury, and the jury should decide. It shouldn't be a situation where it can get thrown out in this way. There shouldn't be that kind of special favor for law enforcement.

My dearly departed friend and The News Tribune's metro columnist Matt Driscoll wrote one of his most insightful columns about the importance of crisis and alternative response programs after I wrote about the Langfitt family's lawsuit being dismissed the first time. It still holds up.

The Weekly News Links

Send me links: jared@pnwjusticejournal.org.

Policing

• WA’s first-of-its-kind Office of Independent Investigations set to take over all deadly force probes in 12 western counties – Seattle Times
• A WA teen trafficked online is waiting for justice – Washington State Standard
• 6 deaths tied to traffic stops by OR city police department since summer 2023 – The Oregonian
• Boise hires Tuscon, AZ assistant chief to succeed retiring chief – Idaho Statesman

Politicking

• Seattle Council approves $2M+ annual contract with SCORE Jail, where 7 people have died since 2023, to jail more low-level defendants – Seattle Times
• Seattle City Attorney asks Council to ban people charged with drug violations from parts of downtown, reviving similar pre-2020 policy – PubliCola
• Seattle City Council member proposes prostitution loiter law on Aurora – Seattle Times
• OR’s largest county, ambulance provider agree to contract to boost response times – Willamette Week

Lawyering

• Ex-Seattle officer fired for joking about pedestrian’s death wants $20M – Seattle Times
• WA counties sue state children and families department for suspending intake at youth detention centers – Seattle Times
• Once-convicted Kelso murder suspect on bail after witnesses say he’s innocent. Prosecutors aim to lock him up again – The Daily (Longview) News
• Taking the climate killers to court with homicide charges – The Lever 

Incarcerating

• ID settles with woman raped by corrections officer in prison for $62,500 – Idaho Statesman
• OR county investigated jail deaths, then hid report for months – The Oregonian
• WA transfers 43 young men from prison back to juvenile detention – Seattle Times

Safety & Well-Being

• OR county won’t have drug “deflection” program after state declined application, though  its larger neighbor got  $3.9 million – Willamette Week
• Far fewer people are getting mental health treatment in OR through involuntary commitments – Willamette Week
• Study: botched sudden infant death investigations add to disproportionate Native infant mortality rate – Washington State Standard
• Hospital-based intervention programs curbing gun violence around the country – Safer Cities

Data & Tech

• Two more small-town WA police departments get grants for Flock Safety AI license plate cameras – The News Tribune
• Violent crime is down across the country, but rates are mixed in the Mountain West – Boise State Public Radio
• Murder Clearance Rates Probably Rose in 2023 – Jeffalytics

National Headlines

• Ex-Illinois deputy charged with murder for killing Sonya Massey had history of misconduct at past agencies, despite 2021 decertification reform  – The Intercept
• Inside the secret multimillion-dollar operation to dismantle America’s gun laws – The Trace
•  ICE’s unknown numbers on deadly force: nearly 60 shootings in 6 years – The Trace
• A year after the police raid on small-town newspaper in Kansas – The Handbasket

Fun Stuff

NPR re-airing a recent Code Switch episode about the implications of the label "felon" after former President Donald Trump’s conviction in May reminded me to listen. And you should, too! It’s got super insightful discussions with comedian Felonious Munk and writer Josie Duffy-Rice.

Pacific NW Magazine profiled the first class of first University of Puget Sound students to earn 4-year degrees in prison.

Sharing how Pepe waited for me to finish this newsletter that I started writing last night...

Thanks for reading, and I will talk to you next week.

-Jared from the PNW Justice Journal

P.S., I’m still running a 50% off Founding Member Discount for a one-year Insider subscription. You’ll get a special email from me at the end of the month, which I’m not stressed about figuring out at all ;)

Footnotes

1: The Ellis family’s federal lawsuit against the city of Tacoma is still pending, and Ellis’ death remains under investigation by the DOJ. One of the ex-officers, Timothy Rankine, plans to sue the city for defamation after resigning in exchange for $500,000 earlier this year. Rankine, Matthew Collins and Christopher “Shane” Burbank are also under investigation by the state for decertification. 

2: Proponents say qualified immunity protects the “hazy border between excessive and acceptable force.” Essentially, a judge decides whether an officer’s use of force was clearly beyond the scope of what is reasonable.

3. The Washington State Bar is actively investigating Bible’s complaint against Purtzer. I know, because I got a call.