MONROE – Monroe police were stung by criticism and questions after a SWAT team raid on an apartment last year ended with the death of a fugitive and the wounding of one of their own officers, according to records obtained by The Herald.
E-mails and memos document the Monroe officers’ resentment over what they saw as Monday morning quarterbacking by attorneys, journalists and even other police.
The records also show they were unshakable in their belief that they had done nothing wrong.
“The bottom line is that we removed a dangerous individual from society who was on a road to destruction,” Monroe Police Chief Tim Quenzer wrote the day after the raid. “No citizens of Monroe were harmed nor put in potential harm’s way.”
Fugitive Harold McCord was shot June 24, 2003. During the same raid, Monroe police Sgt. Eduardo Jany was wounded in the hand and forearm by bullets fired by another member of the department’s Special Emergency Response Team.
Despite Jany’s wounding, Quenzer wrote that the Monroe team had “developed a sound plan built on confirmed intelligence. You followed that plan to a ‘T.’ All of you (showed) extreme bravery under extraordinary circumstances, and I’m very proud of you all.”
The Herald this month obtained Quenzer’s June 2003 e-mail and other records under state public records laws.
The police chief said he stands by what he wrote last year and would still authorize a similar raid if faced with the same circumstances.
“Of course, getting shot is not in a plan, but as far as attempting to get him (McCord) out of there without anyone being harmed – in other words, following their plan – they did everything they could,” Quenzer said.
McCord family attorney Bradley Marshall said Quenzer’s after-raid message “sounds like they planned to shoot and kill him, and they accomplished what they planned.”
“They removed what they considered a dangerous person from society. That’s not the duty of a police officer,” Marshall said. “Their duty is to apprehend people and turn them over to the justice system. They’re not supposed to be the judge, jury and executioner.”
Law officers in Snohomish County have publicly supported Monroe’s actions. But privately, some have questioned the tactics. Surrounding the apartment and waiting for McCord to give up would have been a better option, they say.
Monroe police were aware of the criticism. In November, Jany sent to police around the county a memo he described as an “open letter to my peers.”
The Monroe team leader thanked officers who had supported his department. He also expressed “concern regarding some of the second guessing and Monday morning quarterbacking which I have been advised of, particularly from some with professed SWAT backgrounds.”
In the letter, Jany acknowledged responsibility for “the error of getting wounded,” an injury he sustained when he reached into the line of fire to pull back his police dog.
But he added, “I will not stand by idly and allow those who were not in that apartment at the time of the event to question or second guess the other actions that took place.”
Earlier in the letter, Jany said that “some of our peers are judging us based on rumor, conjecture, and unfortunately inflammatory and derogatory media reports.”
Jany and others in the department traded messages showing that they felt vindicated when the inquest jury in May ruled that McCord’s death was legally justified.
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