BOTHELL — The decisions that led to a deadly police chase in 2013 are under scrutiny in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the city of Bothell.
The lawsuit alleges that Bothell police officer Mark Atterbury was reckless and negligent when he chased a pickup truck into Everett. The truck, driven by Joseph Strange, a convicted felon recently released from prison, smashed into Rachael Kamin’s Honda CRV.
Kamin, 40, was driving home along Pacific Avenue on Mother’s Day after her shift at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett. She suffered a head injury and died two days later. She was survived by her husband, Todd Kamin, and two sons, 16 and 14.
Prosecutors charged Strange with first-degree murder based on a rarely used theory that he caused Kamin’s death “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life.”
The defense argued at Strange’s criminal trial that his client was being held to a different standard than the officers who continued to pursue him at high speeds for miles into Everett.
After a lengthy trial, 11 jurors were ready to convict Strange of first-degree murder. One juror was not convinced, and so Strange was found guilty of second-degree murder. He was sentenced last month to 39 years in prison.
Strange also is a defendant in the lawsuit.
The chase violated the Bothell police department’s own policies, Kamin’s attorney said Thursday.
“The evidence shows and our experts believe this tragedy never should have happened,” Seattle attorney Robert Gellatly said.
The city denied any wrongdoing in its answer to the lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court late last year. The officers were “acting in good faith and within reasonable exercise of discretion vested in them by law and therefore are immune from any liability …,” Seattle attorney Steven Thorsrud wrote.
The first leg of the pursuit began in Bothell after Atterbury saw a Ford pickup truck pull into a hotel parking lot. Atterbury had been advised that there had been a rash of stolen Ford F350 trucks in recent months. The license plates on the truck checked out as stolen. The officer attempted to stop the truck. That’s when Strange drove away and Atterbury chased after him. The officer’s sergeant called off the chase after a couple of minutes.
The pursuit picked up again in Lynnwood where Strange struck a car pulling into a gas station and backed into Atterbury’s patrol car. Strange took to the freeway but then headed into downtown Everett via Evergreen Way. Speeds reached up to 90 mph.
Strange ran a red light and plowed into Kamin’s car as she was driving through the intersection at Rucker and Pacific avenues. The impact sent her car sliding on its side for 160 feet.
An internal investigation determined that Atterbury violated department policy. The investigation concluded that Atterbury should not have chased after the pickup truck based solely on the stolen license plate. Bothell Police Chief Carol Cummings also concluded that Atterbury should have called off the pursuit about two miles from the crash site, saying the danger created by the chase outweighed the need to apprehend the suspect.
The road had narrowed to five lanes and Strange had picked up speed and blown through multiple red lights.
The chief suspended Atterbury for a day.
“I want to clearly state that the cause of this tragedy rests squarely on the shoulders of the suspect,” she wrote at the time.
In its answer to the lawsuit, the city claims Strange is fully responsible for the crash and police had no control over his actions.
The city’s lawyers also said the state Department of Corrections may bear some liability because Strange was under community supervision at the time of the chase.
Since the crash, the Bothell Police Department has adopted stricter policies to guide officers on when to engage in pursuits. The changes were in the works before the deadly crash but didn’t go into effect until Bothell’s officers could be retrained, according to public records.
The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in November.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
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