By Steve Hunter / Kent Reporter
KENT — A jury ruled against a Marysville man who sued the city of Kent and two of its police officers for assault and battery as they removed him from a 2015 Scorpions concert at the ShoWare Center.
“The city of Kent is gratified that, after considering the evidence, the jury concluded both officers acted lawfully and appropriately under the circumstances,” Police Chief Rafael Padilla said in a news release earlier this week.
Despite the victory, it cost the city about $400,000 to defend the case, according to an email from City Attorney Pat Fitzpatrick. The Seattle law offices of Mills Meyers Swartling represented the city and the officers.
Patrick Van Horn, 52, claimed that detective Eric Moore and officer Tami Honda used excessive force and that they injured his right shoulder and caused him to have a stun gun dart surgically removed from his stomach after they took him out of the arena Oct. 9, 2015. Van Horn reportedly had poured beer on a man and his daughter in the row in front of him during the concert, according to court documents.
A King County Superior Court civil jury in Seattle took less than an hour to reach a verdict, according to city officials. The trial lasted four days.
Van Horn asked the jury to award him $480,000, arguing that the arrest caused him to need shoulder surgery, city officials said. But his orthopedic surgeon testified that Van Horn would have needed the surgery eventually, even without the arrest. Another medical expert testified that MRI images taken a few weeks after the arrest showed no new injury to Van Horn’s shoulder.
“We disagree with the verdict,” said John Kannin, the attorney for Van Horn, in a Tuesday email. “Upon discussing the case with the jury, jurors expressed their opinions that what the police officers did was wrong, however, with the jury instructions given to the jurors they could not hold the police accountable for their wrongdoing.”
Kent police arrested Van Horn for investigation of fourth-degree assault and obstructing an officer after he refused to leave his seat at the ShoWare Center to discuss the incident. A Kent Municipal Court jury found Van Horn not guilty.
Honda has worked 14 years and Moore 12 years with Kent police.
Before trial, the court dismissed a number of Van Horn’s other legal claims due to lack of evidence.
Of the $400,000 to defend the case, the city is responsible for $250,000 of that amount while the rest is covered by insurance, Fitzpatrick said.
This story originally appeared in the Kent Reporter, a sibling paper of The Daily Herald.
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