06/12/2023
Clark County Prosecutor rules police use of force justified in death of Tim Green; no charges will be filed against the officers involved
By Mindy Chambers
The Olympia Tribune
As the one-year anniversary of the death of Tim Green, shot and killed by an Olympia Police Department officer in August 2022 came and went, and then, as they quietly remembered what would have been his 39th birthday on November 18, his friends and family waited to hear if criminal charges would be filed against the officers involved in his death.
On Monday, they got the answer.
“Having reviewed all the evidence pertinent to this investigation, I have determined that the use of force by Officers J. Anderson, B. Anderson, Schaffer, and Sergeant (Joseph) Bellamy was lawful,” Clark County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Rachael Rogers wrote in a letter sent December 1 to Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim, who then notified the city of the decision. Find the full text of the letter here:http://www.capmetroinvestigations.org/uploads/1/3/3/2/133222345/clark_county_prosecuting_attorneys_office.pdf
The city in turn notified the public through a “media release” emailed to an undisclosed list of individuals. It did not post it on its website or social media accounts.
It said in part: “We recently learned that the Clark County Prosecutor's Office completed their review of the August 22, 2022, shooting of Timothy Green and determined that the actions of the officers involved were lawful. Based on this information, the Thurston County Prosecutor's Office notified the City of Olympia that it has declined to file any charges against the four officers.”
It ends with this: “We ask the community to continue to hold the Green family in your thoughts.”
The city itself likely is thinking about a $21 million tort claim filed in late August of this year by a Seattle law firm representing the Greens. It alleges that OPD caused Green’s pain, suffering and death, caused his family to suffer as a result of his death, and to pay medical and funeral expenses.
Green, a Black man, was 37 and in an acknowledged mental health crisis when he was shot and killed by Jordan Anderson, a three-year veteran of the Olympia Police Department. Anderson remains on paid administrative leave. Through a spokesperson, the city declined to provide the amount he has been paid since the shooting, telling a reporter to file a public records request for the information.
Tuesday afternoon, the Green’s attorney, Ryan Dreveskracht, said the city has reached out to see about “pre-filing negotiations” prior to the filing of a formal lawsuit. “The Greens, of course, are open to hearing any reasonable offers. We are currently scheduling those talks,” he said.
“We are not surprised by the Clark County Prosecutor's Office's decision – it was expected. It is extremely rare that there is criminal accountability in these situations,” he said.
Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim referred the case to the Clark County office in January under a practice developed by prosecutors to avoid conflict of interest or the appearance of conflict of interest. The Clark County office had been asked to determine if the officer who fired the fatal shots had a legal defense for Green’s death under state law.
The December 1 letter from the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office said it made its finding in part due to officers’ accounts that Green threatened to shoot them. It said: “Applying the facts determined in the investigation to the statutory and constitutional standards set forth above, Timothy Green’s actions would have led any reasonable police officer to believe he presented an imminent danger to the offers present at the scene. In particular, Mr. Green had failed to follow directives from law enforcement, was armed with a knife which he held in a raised position and was advancing on a law enforcement officer. He had also indicated an intent to harm law enforcement by telling one of the officers on the scene to ‘be careful’ because he was ‘going to shoot them.’”
Brenda Anderson stated Green made such threats in a written statements provided to the Capital Metro Independent Investigations Team, which conducted a detailed inquiry into the incident,
"He strode away from me through the middle of the gas pumping area (at a business near the scene of the shooting) telling me something similar to, "Be careful, I'm going to shoot you,” wrote Brenda Anderson, who has retired from OPD.
No gun was found on Green’s body or at the scene.
The officer who fired the fatal shots, Jordan Anderson, joined the force on August 1, 2019. Documents state that on the advice of his attorney, he did not make a statement to investigators for the CMIIT. That team found officers were justified in not calling the city’s Crisis Response Unit to help defuse the situation, a major point of contention with the family and some community members.
The tort claim also refers to police tactics at the scene, near a busy drive-through coffee shop at the intersection of Martin Way and Sleater Kinney Road
Dreveskracht, who is on the board of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, said when the tort claim was filed, “Most police departments in our state train officers to engage people that may be in crisis from a covered position, communicate from a distance, and work to defuse rather than escalate situations. The idea is to keep officers out of unnecessary danger, and to reduce the risk for individuals who interact with the police. Unfortunately, that didn’t occur here.”
In its media release, the city said OPD plans a thorough review of the shooting as required by department regulations. It is designed to determine “whether the use of force was done appropriately and was consistent with our training and policy. This review will also determine if any current procedures should be updated to improve our ability to serve our community,” the release said.
Police Chief Rich Allen will convene a seven-member Use of Force Review Board of OPD employees, a community representative from the Use of Force board, a law enforcement officer from another jurisdiction. The city spokesperson said OPD plans to begin working on the logistics this week, with a target of convening early next year.
“Anytime an interaction with members of our police department results in injury or loss of life, it is important that we evaluate our policies and procedures to reiterate our commitment to thoughtful, community-focused public safety and policing,” Allen said in the statement.
Said Dreveskracht: “The Greens will continue to urge the City of Olympia to take corrective action by way of training and policy changes. Any legal action that we take, be it informal negotiations or formal legal proceedings, are with the sole purpose of preventing yet another tragedy at the hands of this Police Department and this officer – who met with Timothy and his family on Saturday, and shot Tim dead on Monday.”
