dispatches from TJICistan

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/ap…

On Feb. 26, 2007, after [ police officer ] Olsen left a downtown Spokane bar, he chased Pete in the area of Riverside Avenue, between Cedar and Maple streets. Olsen fired his personal, off-duty firearm, hitting Pete in the back of the head… Olsen says the force he “used that night was justified.”

A Spokane jury acquitted Olsen of first-degree assault and reckless endangerment for shooting Pete, triggering a public outcry over the exclusion of some evidence from jurors…

Olsen’s attorney, Rob Cossey, had predicted that his client was unlikely to get his job back because he “committed significant violations of department policy,” the night he shot Pete, including getting drunk while carrying a concealed weapon in a bar and failing to call for backup while chasing Pete…

To do list:

• Get drunk while carrying a gun.
• Thereby violate state law.
• Get into a dispute with another bar patron.
• Initiate a citizen-on-citizen car chase.
• …while drunk.
• Shoot the other citizen in the back of the head.

Oh, I forgot something: coordinate perjury with another cop:

… Marvin D. Tucker, the Spokane Police Department dispatch supervisor… offered surprise testimony that Pete admitted to him during the 911 call on Feb. 26, 2007, that Pete had stolen Olsen’s truck prior to the shooting.

However, the 911 tapes show no such statement from Pete and two people standing next to him during the call, Michael R. Dale and Carol A. Blackburn, said Pete never said he stole Olsen’s truck.

Does that about cover it?

Wait, no, there’s one more thing:

The resignation also does not affect the back wages city taxpayers will still be on the hook for, totaling about $153,000 for the time Olsen was placed on unpaid layoff status after his arrest in April 2007.

Collect $150k stolen from taxpayers for sitting home and watching Oprah.

OK, now we’ve got it all.

Kirkpatrick said Monday’s conclusion in the Olsen case is a clear example of law enforcement “stepping up,” and taking responsibility

Get drunk, initiate an illegal chase, try to execute someone, suborn perjury, collect money for not working … and then resign 15 milliseconds before getting fired?

That’s “taking responsibility” ?

Have words suddenly changed meanings on me, or something?

This entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 10:59 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.