ARLINGTON — As the child of immigrants, Maria Gutierrez was raised to be afraid of the police.
But as Gutierrez interacted with officers delivering newspapers in Arlington for over 15 years, she connected with them and started respecting them more.
She has always lived paycheck to paycheck. When she had a little extra money, she’d leave a $40 gift card at Ericksen’s Espresso for first responders.
In 2019, however, an Arlington officer tore the newspaper carrier’s rotator cuff in a wrongful traffic stop, according to a lawsuit suing the city for $5 million.
This month, Arlington settled the lawsuit for $300,000, city attorney Steve Peiffle said. The settlement is covered by the city’s liability insurance.
But money wasn’t all of it.
“This wasn’t about the money for her, really, ever,” said Gutierrez’s lawyer Brian Sullivan. “It was about some changes in the way the police department deals with citizens.”
So as part of the settlement, Gutierrez will have a couple volunteer roles with the police department, Sullivan said. She will serve as a community representative on the police oral board that interviews candidates for jobs with the department and as a representative to the police department’s strategic planning process.
“This is about the community, and making a change,” Gutierrez said in an interview this week. “I believe that we do have great officers, but those great officers also need to speak up and say something about the bad ones that are on the force, not just ignore it.”
In an email Monday, Police Chief Jonathan Ventura wrote he was “thankful that both sides reached a mutual settlement that respects each other’s duties, obligations, and perspectives.”
“We are obligated to investigate crimes and suspicious behaviors to keep our community safe, and our citizens have the right to feel respected when interacting with law enforcement, despite the time of day or circumstances,” Ventura added. “We are also grateful to have Ms. Gutierrez agree to work with our department as a community representative to help us improve our interactions with the public and be more effective officers in the future.”
Early the morning of Sept. 30, 2019, Gutierrez was out delivering papers in Arlington. She dropped a copy of The Seattle Times at The Shop of Arlington Tire Pros on West Avenue.
Meanwhile, Arlington police were reportedly investigating a break-in at another auto shop.
When Gutierrez left The Shop, she noticed a police car followed her. The officer, Michael Knight, turned on his lights and sirens, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle. She pulled over and turned the overhead lights on in her car, so the officer could see inside.
Knight yelled at the newspaper carrier to get out of her car, according to the complaint. Gutierrez held a newspaper out the window to show what she was out doing that morning.
“And he screamed at me, and he’s like, ‘I don’t care what you’re doing, get out of the car,’” Gutierrez recalled.
Afraid, she followed his commands. The officer told her to face away from him, put her hands above head and walk backward. He had her get on her knees, the lawsuit stated.
“I was afraid I was going to get thrown to the ground,” Gutierrez said. “I was afraid I was going to get shot.”
Knight started handcuffing Gutierrez. As he did so, he repeatedly pulled her right arm back. She told him that wouldn’t work. Knight told her it would have to, Gutierrez said. Over and over, she told him it hurt.
Gutierrez remembered feeling a tear in her shoulder.
“I knew something was wrong,” she said.
Another officer arrived. That officer told her to be quiet. The two officers asked Gutierrez who else was in the car at least half a dozen times, she recalled. She told them no one. Eventually, they checked her car. Seeing no one was in the car, Knight took off the handcuffs. She asked them why they didn’t just walk up to the car.
“Do you know how many officers get shot just walking up to vehicles?” Knight reportedly responded.
The next month, Knight was fired from the Arlington Police Department, unrelated to the Gutierrez incident, the police chief said.
The newspaper carrier finished her route and went to get medical help. Eventually, doctors confirmed a “traumatic complete tear of her right rotator cuff,” according to the complaint.
Gutierrez left voicemails for Chief Ventura. Another police official called Gutierrez back, but dismissed her concerns, Sullivan said.
“Maria did not want to go against the police department, against the city, and I truly believe she never would have had they taken to heart her complaint,” Sullivan said.
Gutierrez didn’t miss any work due to the injury. It took a year for her to get surgery on her shoulder. But it’ll never be the same as it was before that police stop, she said.
“The strength is gone,” Gutierrez said. “Don’t ask me to throw a ball. I can lightly throw a ball underhand. My second boy, he was my baseball player. I taught him how to throw a ball. Can’t do that with my grandchild now.”
Gutierrez still delivers papers, now in Bothell.
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.
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