Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Undermining the police and protecting the despicable.

The person that I will be discussing in this entry will not have his name revealed. He has a very long list of legal cases and I would prefer not to be part of his latest attempt to make a dime or dollar. He is a lawyer, lives in the area and makes a living suing anyone at any time for any purpose whatsoever.

The incident occurred on June 3, 2007. It was a Sunday. The supplemental police report reads as follows:


[Kamka]
I was dispatched to a suspicious person on the field at [Former Woodway High School]. The caller, a school employee, had tried to talk to the male to ask him what he was doing. The male responded by yelling at [employee] saying something about working on the field.

Sgt Marsh arrived first and contacted the male, later identified as [Subject]. When I arrived I saw Sgt Marsh approaching [Subject] on foot. [Subject] looked over at Sgt Marsh a few times, but was clearly making no effort to stop working or acknowledge that Sgt Marsh was there.

When I arrived, Sgt Marsh had been talking to [Subject] for a minute or so. I heard [Subject] telling Sgt Marsh that 'they' were going to sue the school because two kids had hurt their knees playing on the field. [Subject] said he was there to fix the field. As Sgt Marsh continued to talk to [Subject], [Subject] was stamping the area around home plate with his foot and not making an effort to actually have a conversation with Sgt Marsh.

Then Sgt Marsh asked [Subject] about his conversation with the custodian. [Subject] instantly became defensive saying he only told her that he had permission to be there. When Sgt Marsh asked if he yelled at her, [Subject] stiffened and said absolutely not.

He then picked up a stamping tool. The tool had an 8" x 8" square iron foot, which was connected to about a 4' wooden pole. He was vigorously stamping the ground with this potentially dangerous tool, completely ignoring Sgt Marsh.

Sgt Marsh told him a few times to stop, but he continued. Sgt Marsh then reached over (they were about an arms length from each other) and took the tool from [Subject] and tossed it to the side, telling [Subject] to stop and to listen to him.

[Subject] became even more upset than he had been, yelling at Sgt Marsh to get his hands off him. As far as I could tell, Sgt Marsh hadn't touched him while taking the tool.

Sgt Marsh leaned in towards [Subject], who is taller, and told [Subject] to stop and listen to him. Sgt Marsh was pointing his finger towards [Subject]'s face, but his finger was at least 6" from it, trying to get [Subject]'s attention. [Subject] then just yelled at Sgt Marsh about being in his face.

Sgt Marsh was still continuing to tell [Subject] that he was there to talk to him about why he was on the field. [Subject] just kept yelling that he had the right to be there, that Sgt Marsh needed to leave him alone, keep his hands off him, and get his finger out of his face.

I believe Sgt Marsh next told [Subject] to leave the field, but he refused. He was told several times, but [Subject] only continued to yell. Sgt Marsh then told [Subject] that he was under arrest for disorderly conduct (against the school employee). Sgt Marsh then told him to turn around and put his hands behind his back, but he refused. He kept yelling that he wasn't doing anything wrong. Sgt Marsh told him over and over to turn around. Finally Sgt Marsh put his hands on [Subject] to make him turn around. [Subject] kept spinning around, telling Sgt Marsh to get his hands off him and that he had no right to touch him. [Subject] turned around several times before the handcuffs were put on. Because we were out on a field, there was nowhere else to corner him except against the chain link backdrop.

[Subject] was still yelling that he was an attorney, that we were making a big mistake, and that he was going to sue us. We told him to just listen and stop arguing. Sgt Marsh told him to walk towards our cars. he continued to argue, and refused to walk unless the handcuffs were loosened. [Subject] was now trying to spin around away from Sgt Marsh.

When we got to the cars, [Subject] was searched incident to the arrest with nothing found in his pockets. He was saying that he's not a criminal and that we were making a big mistake. When Sgt Marsh tried to help him sit in the car [Subject] shrugged him off saying he would do it by himself. I rolled down the windows and walked away from the car to talk to Sgt Marsh.

Sgt Marsh said [Subject] had been argumentative and hostile from the time he arrived. [Subject] had originally been closer to where our vehicles were parked and when he arrived [Subject] intentionally walked away from him.

The custodian spoke with Sgt Marsh for a few minutes while I tried to talk to [Subject] and get his name and date of birth. When I walked up to the car I let [Subject] talk for a few minutes. he was still saying that he was an attorney and we were making a big mistake. When I asked him for his name he said he wasn't going to give it to me. I started to walk away and he said, "Okay, I'll tell you." Instead he said he has a lot of friends who are cops and he knows this isn't right. He complained about what had happened some more. I asked him again what his name was, and again he said he wasn't going to tell me. I said ok and walked away. He called out that this time he would tell me, but I did not return again.

[Marsh]
At 1310 I had a message that [subject] wanted to talk to the duty sergeant. I called him back and when he found out it was me he said that I had broken his wrist or a rib. I couldn't really tell due to the static in the phone call. I stated "oh really?" He said that he was driving to the doctor right now and he would be calling the Chief on Monday. I said okay and hung up. Ofc Kamka later informed me that he had continued to pick up his tools and load things into the truck for several minutes after our contact and I had left.

Charges: Obstructing a Public Servant and Resisting Arrest.

Editorial: The subject also made a call to Marla to get the criminal trespass notice removed and to have all charges dropped. District staff would have had to alter their statements for this friend of Marla's to avoid prosecution.

[Anonymous]
I was at Arnie's yesterday and overheard a man in the booth next to mine ranting about the Edmonds Police and the Edmonds School District . Your name was mentioned many times, rather impolitely. The man's name was [Subject] and he said the school district was managed by pushovers.
Just thought you should know.

[Marla]
Thanks for sharing. It just goes to show no good deed goes unpunished! The man in question was given a second chance for the benefit of his son, not due to his powers of persuasion. However, it is just one more chance . . .

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't understand. What is this individual's son's relationship to Marla? Why would she go out on a limb and make the staff change their statements? That's coercion. What a bully!

ESD15.org said...

I have been told that the person in question is a Rotarian. Who knew that such a status could offer so many perks? Get out of jail free, get out of court appearances and get out of competing to lease pianos.

For those of you suspecting that management may have been acting in the best interest of the District under threat of legal action, all field users are to provide certificates of insurance that insulate the District from such frivolous claims. But then, maybe this lawyer would have gotten tips on how to most effectively sue the District.

Anonymous said...

After all that, there is no "no trespass order" to curb this potentially threatening behavior? What's up with that?