Tag Archives: charleena lyles

BIPOC, Local

Charleena Lyles Inquest Concludes Seattle Police Officers Used ‘Reasonable Force’

[SEATTLE, Wash.] – (MTN) After weeks of testimony, the jury considering the evidence presented during the Charleena Lyles inquest concluded after 20 hours of deliberation, Seattle Police Officers used “reasonable force” and were left with no other options beyond lethal force.

Lyle’s grandfather exploded in anger after the verdict was read, and was escorted from the courtroom.

The jurors had to use the legal standard for evaluating user of force police conduct that existed in 2017, which required the finding of “malice” or “evil intent.” In 2019, Washington state law was changed to remove the requirement. Jurors were asked to consider more than 100 questions, including if the officers’ actions were done with “malice.”

On June 17, 2017, Charleena Lyles called 911 to report a burglary. Seattle Police officers had been to her apartment two weeks earlier and knew she was in a mental health crisis. Jason Anderson and Steven McNew were the responding officers and neither had less-lethal options with them. Officer Anderson had stopped carrying his department-provided taser a few days earlier and McNew was not certified to carry one.

Officers enter the apartment, and despite knowing that Lyles was having mental health issues, did not ask her to put away some knives that were on the kitchen counter. During the interaction, the inquest determined that Lyles had grabbed one of the knives and would not comply with the officers’ orders. The inquest found that Lyles threatened Anderson and McNew with deadly force, leaving them no other option due to the tight quarters of the apartment, and not carrying less-lethal weapons. They fired their service weapons seven times, striking Lyles, who was pregnant, multiple times. Lyles died at the scene and her death was witnessed by two of her four children.

In 2018, Office Anderson was suspended for two days after a Seattle Office of Police Accountability investigation determined he had violated department policy but not having his taser. The OPA finds determined that the incident may have turned out differently if Anderson had a less-lethal option available.

Lyles’s family filed a $10 million lawsuit against the city of Seattle in 2020. The lawsuit was dismissed, but reinstated on appeal in 2021. The case was set to go to trial in February, but the family and the City of Seattle reached a $3.5 million settlement in November 2021.

King County Prosecutor Dan Sattenberg said that his office would review the evidence presented during the inquest and make a final determination on whether criminal charges will be filed. Because the pre-2019 standard of proving “malice” or “evil intent” is a requirement to secure a conviction, it is unlikely criminal charges will move forward.

BIPOC, Local

Off-duty Seattle Police SWAT Officers’ Conduct During Charleena Lyles Inquest Raises Questions

[SEATTLE, Wash] – MTN Off-duty Seattle Police Department SWAT officers went to the Children’s and Family Justice Center in Seattle, where an inquest into the 2017 shooting death of Charleena Lyles is being held, for a “security check” after one of the officers told his sergeant he was “afraid” after a confrontation with Lyles’s family on June 22.

On Wednesday, after an emotional day of testimony that included graphic pictures and videos of Lyles after Seattle Police shot her, the officers walked through a hallway where Lyles’s family was seated. There was a verbal confrontation, and one of the officers was called a “coward.” The officer called his sergeant, saying he was afraid for his safety after the incident. On Friday, off-duty SWAT officers went to the courthouse where the inquest was being held unannounced. Seattle police do not have jurisdiction over the Children’s and Family Justice Center, which the King County Sheriff’s Department handles.

King County Sheriff Sgt. Jim Donner, responsible for the courthouse’s security, told the Seattle Times the security check was “surprising.” Surveillance cameras recorded the Wednesday incident. It did not show that any threats were issued to the officer or other actions that would have reasonably put him in fear.

After reviewing the surveillance video on Monday, Inquest Administrator Michael Spearman called the response “excessive” and chastised the Seattle Police Department. Spearmen told the department to “avoid” the Lyles family.

During an interview on KIRO 97.3, The Lyles family accused the Seattle police of using intimidation tactics by sending members of the SWAT team to the courthouse.

On June 18, 2017, Lyles, who was expecting her fifth child, called 911 to report a burglary at her apartment. Lyles was known by the Seatle Police Department and known to have mental health issues. She was in a mental health crisis when police arrived, and the two officers accused Lyles of lunging at them with a knife. They fired seven shots, with several striking Lyles.

In the line of fire were at least two of Lyles’s children, two toddlers. An infant was in a crib in a bedroom down the hallway. One of the children ran out to the body of their mother seconds after she was shot and laid her head on her body. In audio recordings, the two officers expressed shock there were others in the apartment, and that the children could have been in the line of fire.

The conduct of the Seattle Police and their description of events was called into question, but Washington state law at the time required proof that a law enforcement officer acted with “malice” or “evil intent” to bring charges for alleged excessive use of force incidents. Legal experts have called it an impossible standard for decades. Before a change in Washington law in 2019, the state was considered one of the most difficult places to charge law enforcement officers for criminal misconduct in the line of duty.

In 2019 the law in Washington state changed, removing the malice and evil intent standard, making it possible to prosecute officers for use of force misconduct. Four officers, one in Auburn and three in Tacoma, are awaiting trials on various charges. In the Auburn case, police officer Jeff Nelson is awaiting trial for second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the shooting death of Jesse Sarey, who was also having a mental health crisis. Tacoma Police officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins face second-degree murder charges, and officer Timothy Rankine faces first-degree manslaughter charges for the 2020 in-custody death of Manny “Manuel” Ellis.

The Lyles sued the city of Seatle for wrongful death in 2020, and a civil trial was scheduled for February 2022. In November 2021, the city of Seattle reached a $3.5 million settlement with the family.

Legal experts say that the two Seattle Police officers that shot Lyles could face criminal charges, depending on the finding of facts from the ongoing inquest. However, because Lyles was shot and killed in 2017, charges would have to be weighed against the old standard of malice or evil intent.