EVERETT – A Snohomish County detective’s investigation of a man’s fatal collapse during an arrest is raising questions about the accuracy of Everett police officers’ official reports.
Prosecutors say they aren’t troubled by what homicide detective Brad Pince has been able to confirm occurred on Dec. 21. Sean Hopkins stabbed an officer, struggled with police and then lapsed into a fatal coma.
Instead, prosecutors are concerned about questions left unanswered – and more particularly, why.
According to documents obtained by The Herald, Pince found evidence that a civil attorney hired by the city of Everett “provided suggestions” to police on what information should appear in the officers’ witness statements and reports. It is unknown what those suggestions were or whether the changes were made.
That’s because nobody who knows is talking.
Bob Christie, the Seattle attorney who advised police, said it is “naive” and “completely false” to assume anything inappropriate may have occurred.
The county’s chief law enforcers, Sheriff Rick Bart and Prosecuting Attorney Janice Ellis, said they aren’t comfortable with a lawyer being put between the detective and key witnesses.
“I don’t think it’s a good policy,” Bart said. “It’s like a filter. It changes the statement.”
History of problems
Hopkins, 37, struggled with mental problems and was well known to police.
On Dec. 21, officers were called to his small, downtown apartment after a manager reported the man had left the water running, causing damage. According to police and other witnesses, Hopkins threatened to harm anyone who came into his apartment. When police went inside, officer Dwight Snyder was stabbed in the stomach.
In subduing Hopkins, police repeatedly struck him with their nightsticks and flashlights, documents show.
Aid crews were summoned when officers realized Hopkins had stopped breathing. He was hospitalized and died Dec. 29 without regaining consciousness.
Preliminary findings by Dr. Norman Thiersch, the county medical examiner, indicate Hopkins died because his brain was deprived of oxygen.
Thiersch believes the injuries he received fighting police do not appear responsible for his death, Pince wrote in his report.
Pince began asking questions about Hopkins’ death at the request of Everett police, who opted not to investigate the case themselves.
The death investigation is supposed to provide Snohomish County prosecutors, the medical examiner and others with information they need to determine the circumstances surrounding Hopkins’ death.
Depending on what the investigation finds, county officials can take a number of actions.
They can decide the officers’ use of force was legally justified and close the probe. They can order an inquest, a courtroom proceeding where the circumstances of the death are aired in detail with witnesses testifying under oath. Or, if there is evidence suggesting wrongdoing, a criminal prosecution can be opened.
Unclear answers
Pince’s investigation is now being reviewed by Mark Roe, a senior deputy prosecutor. It is unclear, Roe said, when he’ll reach a conclusion on the legality of police conduct that night.
One problem is Pince’s difficulty getting answers to all of his questions, Roe said. The detective sought the prosecutor’s advice and “I was uncomfortable as well,” he said.
Pince early on discovered that Christie met with the officers involved in Hopkins’ arrest and that the lawyer had access to their reports and witness statements before they were filed.
Christie specializes in representing police departments and officers in civil lawsuits. Pince was told that Christie recommended changes in police statements and reports.
When Pince tried to find out precisely what that meant, Christie and another lawyer from the police officers’ union told the investigator that the information was off limits because of attorney-client privilege, documents show.
Christie said Everett police are not alone in having attorneys review police officers’ witness statements and police reports prior to making them part of the record.
“How Mr. Pince chooses to spin that and why he should express some discomfort with somebody exercising their right to meet with counsel is astonishing,” Christie said.
It is common for an attorney to be present during an interview involving police officers and to review statements so they accurately represent what was said, said Don Pierce, executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.
“(Police officers) have all the same rights as a citizen,” Pierce said.
Sheriff Bart said his department doesn’t give attorneys the authority to decide how a deputy presents evidence.
Deputies are allowed to speak with an attorney after an incident such as Hopkins’ death, and they are allowed to have attorney present when talking to investigators.
“It doesn’t mean an attorney will read the deputy’s report and change it,” Bart said. “To me as sheriff, it’s a trust issue.”
Sheriff concerned
Bart, a former homicide detective, said he believes it’s critical for an investigator to get the information directly from witnesses and participants while it is still fresh in their minds.
“As an old homicide detective, the less middle people the better,” he said. “The information is clearer, more precise and closer to what the person thinks. I want to know I got it from the horse’s mouth so I know I’ve got a work product that is good.”
Bart said he knows of no evidence that any of the officers did anything wrong during their struggle with Hopkins, but added that by refusing to openly discuss all aspects of the case Everett risks creating a perception they are hiding something.
“What I know of this case, I think the officers’ actions were completely justified,” he said. “It’s all that happened afterward that concerns me.”
Roe said he understands the reasons Everett officials have chosen to handle the inquiry in this fashion. He also said he understands that is their decision to make, not his.
“I think public confidence in the thoroughness, the fairness and the completely unbiased nature of an investigation is important, particularly when a human life is lost,” Roe said. “Any policy or decision that undermines that I think is unfortunate.”
Ellis said she has been briefed by Roe and others. She supports their questions. She added there are legal ways to compel reluctant witnesses to cooperate, including asking a judge to order testimony in a closed-door special inquiry proceeding.
Lawsuit worries
In his report on the investigation, Pince documented how officers told him they were in a life-and-death struggle with Hopkins. One officer had been stabbed and hit in the head with a glass bottle, another was bitten in the hand and nearly lost control of the shotgun he was carrying. Hopkins didn’t quit fighting until just moments before he stopped breathing, the officers said.
The report also documents the concerns within the police department over the potential for a lawsuit.
For example, one officer did not immediately turn over as evidence a flashlight he used to strike Hopkins. When that was discovered a few days later, a police supervisor called Pince and asked what he should do. The officer said he didn’t want to create a paper trail that would have to be later disclosed in a lawsuit, Pince wrote.
Pince told the officer to book the flashlight into evidence and to submit a report on what happened.
Roe said that Pince’s response was the only appropriate action.
“He has to document that. He absolutely has to,” the prosecutor said.
‘Tremendous respect’
Christie said he tries to conduct himself with a high degree of ethics. As an attorney, he said it is his duty to refuse to answer questions about the advice he gives clients.
“I have tremendous respect for Brad Pince and the problem I have with even getting into the issue of my representation is that it detracts from the importance” of what officers did that night when faced with a difficult arrest, Christie said.
On Friday, Roe said he joined the medical examiner in writing Everett police, asking again that all of the officers involved in Hopkins’ arrest be made available “and that they be prepared to answer each and every question we may have, including those regarding whether their witness statements are complete, and entirely their own.”
He said he hopes that discussion will happen within the next few days.
“We believe it is important that information flow freely and unimpeded in circumstances such as these, and that all questions be answered,” Roe said.
Reporter Scott North: 425-339-3431 or north@heraldnet.com.
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