Seattle Cop Assaults, Tasers Man Due to Personal Vendetta

Two brothers allege in a lawsuit that they were falsely investigated as bank robbers because a Seattle police officer was upset about the way he had been treated at a popular longshoremen's bar that all three men frequented.

The suit, filed Aug. 8 in King County Superior Court, contends Officer Michael Waters carried out a vendetta against Alan H. Jeffries, a supervising longshoreman at the Port of Seattle, and his brother, Bennie Jeffries IV, a retired longshoreman.

"That's the theory of the complaint," said Cleveland Stockmeyer, the attorney for the brothers. "This was personal."

Waters, who joined the Police Department in 1992, is named in the suit, along with the City of Seattle. A spokeswoman for the City Attorney's Office said her office doesn't comment on pending litigation.

The suit contains new allegations against the department at a time when the U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether Seattle officers have used excessive force, particularly against minorities.

In the suit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages, the brothers allege they were the victims of false arrest, violations of their rights and assault.

Waters had known the brothers for several years before the Aug. 22, 2009, incident in which Alan Jeffries was shot with a Taser and arrested, according to the suit.

Waters often had spoken with both brothers at the Chelan Cafe in Southwest Seattle, a "well known hangout of longshoremen, also frequented by Waters," the suit said.

Alan Jeffries has a history of scrapes with law enforcement, including convictions for obstructing an officer and driving under the influence, court records show. He had even been arrested once by Waters on a boating-while-intoxicated warrant, according to the suit.

The suit alleges Waters developed a "malice and animus" toward Alan Jeffries shortly before the 2009 incident after Waters broke up with a bartender at the Chelan and saw Jeffries flirt with her. Waters became more jealous after he was excluded from a George Clinton concert attended by Jeffries, the bartender and others.

As a result, Waters developed a plan to humiliate Jeffries, the suit alleges.

At morning police briefings, Waters had repeatedly studied descriptions and still shots from bank-surveillance video of two armed bank robbers being sought by local law enforcement, the suit said.

Waters didn't claim the robbers resembled the brothers, nor was there an "objective reasonable resemblance," according to the suit. He also didn't notify a supervisor or detective about any suspicion the brothers resembled the robbers, the suit alleges.

On the evening of Aug. 22, 2009, Waters and his partner drove in their patrol car to the South Park Marina, where the brothers had gone in a van so Alan Jeffries could work on his boats, the suit said.

After the patrol car passed and turned around, Alan Jeffries was standing outside the van, with his brother sitting inside, according to the suit. A woman with them was on one of the boats.

"At this time there was no probable cause nor objective reasonable basis for thinking there was any crime or basis for stopping or arresting" Alan Jeffries, the suit said.

Waters and his partner got out and drew their guns, and Waters ordered Jeffries to get on the ground, according to the suit.

Jeffries asked "for what?," the suit said.

Waters then ordered him to turn around and walk backward, the suit said.

Jeffries tried to comply, stumbled and told Waters he could not walk backward, the suit alleges, adding the woman yelled that Jeffries was sick and unable to comply.

Jeffries, the suit said, has Ménière's disease, an inner-ear disorder that can affect balance.

Waters replied "he's not sick and can do as he's ordered" before suddenly firing his Taser at Jeffries, according to the suit.

Jeffries had his hands up the entire time and had made no sudden moves, according to the suit.

Bennie Jeffries, a longshoreman at the time, was handcuffed and detained at the scene. Police had the van towed away, even after Bennie Jeffries told officers it contained an air tank and nebulizer he used for health problems, the suit said.

In a police report signed the next day, Waters said that while on patrol duty he saw two men sitting in a van, including a passenger whose features were visible.

"I immediately recognized his resemblance to that of one of two suspects" wanted by the King County Sheriff's Office for bank robbery, Waters wrote.

According to Waters, Jeffries didn't respond to two requests to talk to him, and his partner saw Jeffries duck in front of the van to conceal himself.

Jeffries responded to requests to come into view with "defiant curses," Waters wrote.

Jeffries' "erratic" actions and words "made me believe even more there was a possible connection" to the bank case or illegal activity, Waters wrote.

Waters wrote that Jeffries refused to get on the ground and wouldn't keep his arms raised.

Jeffries was arrested for obstructing a police officer.

Waters' report contains no mention of any personal connection between him and Jeffries.

The lawsuit alleges Waters should have been able to recognize Jeffries as his drinking acquaintance.

Had the brothers been suspected of being violent bank robbers, the suit contends, the proper procedure would have been to call a superior and wait for backup officers with rifles and shotguns.

Neither brother was linked to the bank robbery, and the obstruction charge was dropped at a hearing where Waters did not appear.

Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, a Seattle police spokesman, said that based on the police report, "The whole incident wouldn't have happened if Mr. Jeffries had complied with officer commands."

The suit alleges Waters falsely reported there was no patrol-car video of the incident, and that Seattle police officials knew officers misused their power to make obstruction arrests.

"This policy and custom of allowing officers to misuse their power with impunity told Waters he could, too,... " the suit said.

Neither brother filed a complaint with the Police Department's Office of Professional Accountability, said Stockmeyer, their attorney, citing a lack of trust in the department's ability to investigate complaints of excessive force.

from mainstream media

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015969310_lawsuit21m.html


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