Lawsuit dropped over officer who sexually assaulted woman

EDMONDS — A woman who was sexually assaulted by a former Edmonds police officer has abandoned a lawsuit against the city and Mountlake Terrace.

A motion to dismiss the lawsuit was filed in May, days before the cities planned to ask a judge to toss out the case.

“For a variety of reasons we stipulated to a dismissal,” the woman’s attorney Jerry Baker said recently, adding that he wasn’t permitted to say more.

There was no settlement, said Mark Bucklin, a Seattle attorney who represented Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace.

The lawsuit had alleged that the cities failed to protect the woman from Daniel Lavely, a patrol officer who had been on the force for several years.

A jury in 2013 convicted Lavely of custodial sexual misconduct. He was accused of forcing sex on the woman outside his patrol car in the parking lot on Highway 99.

Lavely resigned from the department that same year.

The woman testified that she was afraid to refuse the officer. It’s against the law for a police officer to have sex with somebody they are detaining, even if the contact is consensual. The lawsuit alleged that Lavely raped the victim.

Lavely denied having sex with the woman. He testified that he lied about his dealings with the victim, saying he had simply forgotten to call dispatchers when he picked the woman up and where he dropped her off. Everett police detectives discovered that Lavely had falsified the record. Video footage showed the woman inside a convenience store at the time Lavely told a dispatcher he dropped her off at a bus stop.

Lavely was sentenced to a year in jail. He must register as a sex offender.

Lavely was later jailed in Texas for unrelated sexual assault allegations dating back years. Texas court records show the case was eventually dismissed.

The lawsuit against Edmonds claimed the city knew “Lavely was a sexual deviant and granted him access to female members of the public as well as the power to detain women.”

Edmonds argued that Lavely’s “criminal acts were, without question, outside the scope of his duties.”

“There is zero evidence that the city of Edmonds knew or had reason to know Lavely would engage in criminal acts prior to this incident,” Bucklin wrote in the motion for summary judgment.

Before he was hired, Lavely underwent a background investigation, including a polygraph and psychological testing, which he passed. The background screening included interviews with Lavely’s co-workers and supervisors from the U.S. Navy, where he served for 22 years prior to being hired by Edmonds. They provided the city positive feedback about the former officer.

In Lavely’s criminal trial, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Adam Cornell told jurors Lavely targeted the victim because she was a homeless drug addict whom the officer believed was a prostitute.

The woman had been injured by Lynnwood police hours before her encounter with Lavely. Officers broke down the door to her motel room and arrested her for an outstanding warrant out of King County. She was thrown to the ground, where she hit her face and broke a tooth. Seattle police would not pick the woman up and Lynnwood officers declined to drive her to King County. She was released and cited for resisting arrest.

Lavely found the woman several hours later. He escorted her from a motel room and drove her to a secluded location.

The lawsuit also alleged that Lavely’s assault on the victim could have been prevented if a Mountlake Terrace detective properly reported an allegation that Lavely had molested a young relative years ago.

A month before the incident in Edmonds, someone came to the off-duty Mountlake Terrace detective to discuss an allegation against Lavely. The detective told the woman to file a report with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. He did not report the allegations, violating the department’s policy, according to a city memo. The detective was suspended for two days.

The detective didn’t violate any mandatory reporting laws because the alleged victim was an adult, Mountlake Terrace Police Chief Greg Wilson wrote in a declaration.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.