TACOMA – Former City Manager Ray Corpuz revealed in a long-awaited deposition that city employees repeatedly warned him about Police Chief David Brame’s erratic behavior, long before Brame fatally shot his wife and himself.
Corpuz said in the sworn deposition, conducted a week ago, that he hesitated to act on the warnings, which included references to Brame’s death threats against his wife, Crystal, for various reasons.
In the deposition, which breaks more than two years of self-imposed silence, Corpuz said he was suspicious of complaints from anonymous sources, was skeptical of claims in divorce filings and feared overreacting to media reports, The News Tribune of Tacoma reported.
“I mean, I didn’t have anything before me,” Corpuz said in his sworn statement. “I had nobody recommending any actions or steps.”
The deposition was part of a $12 million agreement that settles a wrongful-death suit against the city, filed by the family of Crystal Judson Brame. Part of the agreement stipulates that the Judson family attorneys can continue to conduct depositions of key parties in the scandal.
Although Corpuz was the only official with the power to place Brame on administrative leave, he did not do so. Assistant Police Chief Catherine Woodard asked Corpuz to put the chief on vacation because he was too distracted by his divorce to focus on work.
Two weeks before the shootings, Woodard read Corpuz the report of a 911 call from Crystal Brame, who said her husband had threatened to kill her. Two days later, Woodard hand-delivered an anonymous complaint to Corpuz from police officers. It referenced the 911 call. Woodard suggested an investigation. Corpuz decided against it.
In his testimony, Corpuz, fired by the City Council more than two years ago in the aftermath of the shootings, often said he could not remember details of the events surrounding the scandal. The phrase “I don’t recall” appears 61 times in the transcript of his two-hour deposition.
He couldn’t remember Woodard suggesting Brame be sent on vacation. He couldn’t recall telling Woodard the city wouldn’t investigate the anonymous complaint. Several times, Corpuz said he expected someone on his staff would recommend some sort of action regarding Brame. He said he never received one.
“I would have expected my staff, my staff to again review the matter and bring some action or something for me to consider,” he said. “We don’t, you know, just react because it’s in the newspaper.
“I – If I did that, I wouldn’t have lasted 13 and a half years with the City Council,” he testified. “So I mean, those things are reported. And there’s always usually two sides to every issue. And you balance that by making sure you follow some due process. You don’t, I don’t think, overreact.”
Julie Ahrens, sister of Crystal Brame, said Corpuz’s testimony made little sense: “He’s the manager; why the hell does he need anyone to tell him what to do?”
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