Officers Failed To Deescalate In 2021 Waterfront Shooting: OPA

Seattle WA

01 February, 2022

7:11 PM

Description

SEATTLE — Two Seattle police officers failed to follow deescalation policies when they shot and killed a man in crisis on the Seattle waterfront last February, according to the city's police watchdog. The Office of Police Accountability released its findings Tuesday, following a nearly year-long probe into the killing of Derek Hayden on Alaskan Way on Feb. 15, 2021. According to police, Hayden was holding a butcher knife against his throat when two Port of Seattle police officers saw him and radioed the Seattle Police Department for help. The OPA said the first group of officers arrived and began tactical planning at a distance, while the two officers in question stopped their patrol car near Hayden's path, left the vehicle and drew their weapons. Body-worn camera footage released last year shows two officers exit their patrol car with rifles and yell at Hayden to stop as he walked down a waterfront sidewalk. As Hayden began to approach the officers, with his arms in the air and a knife in one hand, he can be heard saying "just shoot me." The footage shows both officers opened fire as he neared them, while still several feet away. According to the OPA's closed case summary, just a few seconds passed between the two officers making contact and firing the shots that killed Hayden. "All in all, [Hayden] began advancing towards [the second officer] approximately nine seconds after [he] emerged from the patrol vehicle," then-OPA Director Andrew Myerberg wrote. "[The officer] fired shots at [Hayden] 14 seconds after exiting the patrol vehicle and five seconds after [he] began advancing towards him." The OPA summarized its findings on the failure to deescalate in a news release Tuesday afternoon: "OPA's investigation concluded that the two officers who fired the shots violated the Seattle Police Department's (SPD) de‑escalation policy because they did not engage in any planning or tactical discussions, and their actions undermined the critical principles of time, distance, and shielding. When they came into the path of Mr. Hayden with firearms drawn, this eliminated time, which the investigation report refers to as the most crucial factor of de-escalation. It says, 'If there is more time, there is more opportunity to gain [voluntary] compliance, build rapport with the individual in crisis, or call in more resources. Had there been more time, the threat would have been minimal, and they could have taken as long as needed to reach a peaceful resolution.' The officers also positioned their vehicle directly in the path of the subject and moved away from cover, both of which limited their options for responding." While both officers were found to have broken with deescalation policies, the OPA cleared them for using deadly force. "While the investigation found that both officers failed to de-escalate, it did not conclude they violated SPD's policy governing the use of deadly force," the OPA wrote. "Rather, OPA opined that the employees were permitted to fire their weapons in defense after Mr. Hayden advanced toward one of them with his knife raised and pointed down." Last year's incident is one of several in recent years where officers have shot and killed people in mental distress who were armed with knives, including Charleena Lyles, Ryan Smith and Terry Caver. The OPA mentioned Caver's case, when officers also failed to deescalate, in re-issuing a policy recommendation to improve training and test other "less-lethal tools." According to Tuesday's findings, one officer in last February's shooting received a one-day, unpaid suspension, and the other was suspended without pay for three days.