During a year when Seattle passed historic police reform, KIRO 7 wanted to find out just how much lawsuits against Seattle police officers are costing taxpayers.
Police action cases even have their own subcategory in the city's budgeting, and as of Nov. 1, KIRO 7 discovered the city has paid out more than $2 million over police-related lawsuits.
One of the lawsuits was a settlement with a man named Jimi Bellinger, who was arrested Feb. 3 of last year after being accused of indecent exposure in the library of Seattle Central Community College.
A security guard stopped him as he was walking out.
“They said, ‘Well, there’s a lady in the library that said that you exposed yourself to her,’” he said. “And I’m going, ‘This has gotta be some joke. Are you kidding me?’”
But surveillance video shows a man—not dressed like Bellinger—sitting next to the victim and placing a red backpack on the desk.
Two minutes later, in a completely different part of the library, video shows Bellinger walk in for the first time. Surveillance video even shows him walking by at the bottom of the screen while the other man is next to the woman.
Yet his attorney, Darryl Parker, says based on a brief identification, Bellinger was arrested.
“She looks at him for less than a quarter of a second and said, ‘That’s him,’” he said.
Bellinger spent the night in jail. His case was dropped after police arrested the man who had been exposing himself to people in the library. Another woman reported an incident later in the same day.
The city of Seattle paid out $50,000 to Bellinger and $30,000 to his attorney.
“How do you put a price on somebody’s civil rights?” Parker asked.
It’s not the only major payout for police action this year.
KIRO 7 discovered a Seattle man and his attorney received $90,000 after they say he was assaulted by police while simply standing at a bus shelter during May Day in 2013.
The city also paid out more than $600,000 for William Wingate’s attorney fees after he was arrested and accused of swinging the golf club he used as a cane.
He received $325,000 in damages in 2016 after a federal jury determined the arresting officer, Cynthia Whitlatch, violated his civil rights.
“I was scared,” he said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen to me.”
KIRO 7 dug deeper and requested the numbers from the city back to 2007.
It’s clear from 2011 on, the amount spent on police action cases shows a pattern of spikes, costing more than $3 million a year, and dips.
But Parker believes the numbers don't tell the whole story. He thinks Seattle police are getting better.
"I think the officers have gotten better, the training is better," he said. "But when somebody has a good case, I think a part of it is the city acknowledging, 'OK, we made a mistake. Let's take care of this.'"
The Seattle Police Department's chief legal officer, Rebecca Boatright, pointed out that some of the settlements this year are from cases two, three, even four years ago.
She said by phone, "We rolled out our new use of force policies in 2014, and along with that, increased reporting and review requirements … that may influence a downward trend in filings.”
Fewer filings with the hope of fewer payouts using taxpayer money.
“You don't ever forget something like that, and you just cannot get it out of your mind,” Jimi Bellinger said, “when you knew that they could have gotten a better job.”
In May, the Seattle City Council passed historic police reform legislation creating or making permanent three independent, co-equal organizations: the Office of Police Accountability (formerly the Office of Professional Accountability), the Community Police Commission, and the Office of the Inspector General.
Andrew Meyerberg was appointed by the mayor to lead OPA. A city spokesperson said the head for the Office of Inspector General needs to be chosen by council.
Cox Media Group
