Convicted robber files $6.3M claim against county

EVERETT — Todd Kirkpatrick robbed banks. Until he got caught.

Interrupted mid-robbery, he ran from a Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy. In his attempt to escape, Kirkpatrick leveled his gun at the deputy, who shot him twice.

Now Kirkpatrick, an inmate at Clallam Bay Corrections Center, wants Snohomish County to pay him $6.3 million for his troubles. Kirkpatrick, 57, recently filed a legal claim against Snohomish County, a precursor to a lawsuit. The claim was obtained by the newspaper under state public records laws.

He wrote that his medical bills from the gunshot wounds amounted to more than $300,000, and that other police officers failed to stop Deputy Dan Scott “from trying to execute me.”

Kirkpatrick was robbing a KeyBank in Stanwood on Sept. 25, 2012, when he spotted Scott on patrol outside and tried to run. The deputy chased Kirkpatrick across the street into the Haggen parking lot.

Scott reported that Kirkpatrick leveled a gun at him before the deputy opened fire. Kirkpatrick’s gun was recovered. It wasn’t loaded.

Before his arrest, Kirkpatrick was the subject of police bulletins throughout Western Washington, dubbed the “Phony Pony Bandit” because of a wig he wore during his heists.

He was convicted of four bank robberies and sentenced to 17 years. He got a longer sentence because he used a firearm in his holdups.

In his claim, Kirkpatrick wrote, “I was obviously unarmed and severely shot up.” He also suffered long-term loss of mobility to his left arm, left hand and left leg, he wrote.

Kirkpatrick, who is from Anacortes, had been a businessman and developer before the economic collapse hit the housing market, according to public records. He had significant debts and, according to his attorney, struggled with alcoholism.

The paperwork he filed does not detail how he arrived at the total of more than $6 million.

Not long after the shooting, Scott was named the 2012 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year by the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs. He also got a Distinguished Service Medal from the sheriff’s office that year.

Reporter Noah Haglund contributed to this story.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.