In the last two years my colleagues and I have written dozens of stories about the 2009 Everett police shooting outside the Chuckwagon Inn. We reported the basic details during the early stages of the investigation when only a little information is made public. We used the state’s public records laws to gain access to the police reports. We wrote stories when prosecutors decided to charge Everett officer Troy Meade with manslaughter and second-degree murder. As the courthouse reporter, I sat through every day of the criminal trial which eventually led to Meade’s acquittal.
We continued to push city officials for answers. Like many of you, we wanted to know what was next for officer Meade. Our questions led to some surprising discoveries: Everett taxpayers were on the hook for Meade’s $241,000 legal defense bills. The city was paying outside lawyers hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend against a civil lawsuit from the shooting. The police department hadn’t started an internal investigation and no one at the city would say when one would begin even as Meade continued to collect a paycheck. We later would learn that Police Chief Jim Scharf said he was behind the decision not to start an internal review until after the civil suit was resolved. Then in February the city agreed to pay Niles Meservey’s daughter $500,000. An internal investigation was launched some 20 months after Meservey was shot and killed.
So what’s the latest?
I recently asked city spokeswoman Kate Reardon some of the same questions I’ve been asking for months. Reardon provided the following information: As of March 26, Meade has been paid $149,709.09 while on leave. The internal investigation is expected to be completed no later than the end of June. The city won’t make any decision about Meade’s future with the department until after the investigation is complete.
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