Officers cleared in April shooting of a Seattle man

Herald staff

SEATTLE – An inquest jury said Monday that a man fatally shot by police as he walked near the Seattle Center posed an "imminent threat" to himself or others at the time he was killed.

David John Walker was killed April 12 as he walked down a street near the Seattle Center, waving a knife. Officers had responded to a report that a man had shoplifted a drink carton from a grocery store, then fired two shots at a security guard. By the time police arrived, testimony indicated, Walker had stowed the gun in a backpack.

The jury agreed that Officer Tommie Doran fired the fatal shot.

The six-member jury determined unanimously that Walker had flashed a knife at officers, although jurors did not find evidence he had displayed a gun after police arrived.

OK expected on WTO reimbursment: The Senate Appropriations Committee todaywas expected to approve $5 million to reimburse Seattle for some of the costs of the World Trade Organization protests. The money is included in a $36.7 billion bill funding the Commerce, Justice and State departments, said a spokesperson from the office of Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. Seattle officials have been seeking the money for months. The Senate committee in May attached $3.8 million for Seattle to an agriculture spending bill, but the item was later struck from the bill. The city of Seattle spent about $9 million on the World Trade Organization protests, with regional law-enforcement agencies out an additional $3 million.

WENATCHEE

Man files suit in sex-ring case: A man whose 1994 conviction in the Wenatchee child sex-abuse cases was overturned has filed damage claims totaling more than $10 million with the city, Chelan County and the state Department of Social and Health Services. Henry Cunningham alleges his civil rights were repeatedly violated during his arrest and prosecution. The city, county and state have 60 days to respond to Cunningham’s claims. If the claims are denied, Cunningham could then decide to sue.

oregon

Man descends from protest perch: A man who spent 11 days on the ledge of a downtown building in a protest over logging descended Monday into the waiting arms of dozens of cheering supporters. Wearing a purple flower in his hair, the man who calls himself "Tre Arrow" rappelled barefooted from his 9-inch-wide, 30-foot-high perch on the U.S. Forest Service building in Portland, Ore. Arrow was taken into custody and is expected to face charges of misdemeanor trespassing and contempt of court. He climbed to the ledge July 7 to focus attention on plans to log 1,030 acres of forest in the shadow of Mount Hood. Several people camping outside the building had been hoisting food and water up to him.

ALASKA

Bear kills man: A bear killed and partially ate a man at a campground near a bear viewing area. The body of George Tullos, 41, of Ketchikan was found Saturday at the Run Amuck campground near Hyder, a community along the Canadian border about 75 miles from Ketchikan. The attack apparently happened late Friday. Tullos was alone at the campground, sleeping outdoors with only a tarp for shelter, a quarter-mile from a bear-viewing platform operated by the U.S. Forest Service. Bruce Bartley, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said he could recall only three cases of bears attacking people and eating them in the past 20 years.