Olympia Police Shooting of Two Men: No Charges for Officer; Men Charged with Assault

Olympia Police Shooting of Two Men: No Charges for Officer; Men Charged with Assault

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Above: Olympia Police Chief Ronnie Roberts provides a brief statement at Olympia City Hall today following Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim's findings about the police officer involved shooting of two men on May 21.

Ad Hoc Committee Set To Next Meet on September 9

By Janine Unsoeld

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Today, Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim released his findings about the Olympia police officer involved shooting of two African American men that occurred May 21st.

His decision and a statement today from Olympia Police Chief Ronnie Roberts are both on the City of Olympia website at www.olympiawa.gov.  

Tunheim’s review of the case in which Olympia police office Ryan Donald shot Bryson Chaplin and Andre Thompson is available at www.co.thurston.wa.us/pao/

Tunheim concluded that the officer’s actions were justified and he did not act in bad faith or with malice. 

“While I have spent many hours examining and analyzing this evidence, Officer Donald had only seconds prior to each shooting event to make the decision to use deadly force. In fact, the radio traffic demonstrates conclusively that only a matter of seconds passed between Donald's first call about spotting the suspects and the first shots fired call. The remaining events unfolded in just under three minutes....”

The two men have been charged with assault.

“There is sufficient admissible evidence to believe that a reasonable fact finder could find beyond a reasonable doubt that Chaplin and Thompson committed the crime of Assault in Second Degree on Officer Donald and of Assault in the 4^th degree on the Safeway employee,” says the report's review. 

Charges have been filed and summons’ issued. Arraignment is set for Tuesday, September 22.

Olympia Police Chief Ronnie Roberts held a press conference at Olympia City Hall two hours after the release of Tunheim's report. In his comments, which lasted about five minutes, Roberts said that the Olympia Police Department will now begin an internal review of the incident to determine whether the actions of Officer Donald violated any department policies and procedures.

The shooting review team will be comprised of Deputy Chief Steve Nelson, Lieutenant Aaron Jelcick, Deputy City Attorney Darren Nienaber, Edward Prince, Executive Director for the Commission on African American Affairs, and a designated police guild representative.

“The review team will convene as soon as can be scheduled with a goal of completing their work within two weeks. We will immediately release the results of this review once it is concluded,” said Roberts.

Karen Johnson of The Black Alliance of Thurston County handed out a statement at the press conference. It states, in part:

“This is indeed a sad day for those of us who believe in justice for all....Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim’s decision announced today is lawful, yet unjust. It reflects the warped and unfair system design that we have mobilized to change. We are disappointed by the prosecutor’s decision, yet we are not surprised by it.

“The upcoming internal review process led by the Olympia Police Department basically requires law enforcement officers to sit in judgment of each other. This does not provide the public with true police accountability. It is time to change the relevant laws, rules, and civil service procedures governing police conduct. It is time for independent oversight and review of police conduct in cases where excessive use of force may have occurred.”

According to the release, The Black Alliance of Thurston County is committed to building trust and promoting fair and impartial policing in Thurston County.

Chief Roberts referred to the group as one that he has been meeting with over the last few weeks.

“We have had difficult, honest and productive conversation about institutional bias in the criminal justice system, educational systems and other governmental services. These conversations have generated several actionable steps that can be taken to demonstrate OPD’s commitment to bias free policing….” said Roberts.

For more information on The Black Alliance of Thurston County, email BlackAllianceThurstonCounty@gmail.com.

Full Circle United, a community group involved in providing financial assistance to the two men shot and their families, invites the community to speak out about the prosecutor's decision. The group will meet at the corner of State Street and Cherry St in downtown Olympia at 6:00 p.m. Thursday evening. 

“This event is solely for amplifying the voices of black people in this community. We are asking that individuals who identify as black or African-American and feel comfortable addressing crowds please come prepared to speak up.

“Others are invited and encouraged to come participate, and must understand that their role in supporting us is to LISTEN,” says the notice.

Ad Hoc Committee on Police and Community Relations

The next meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Police and Community Relations will be September 9, 5:00 p.m., with the location still to be announced.

The city is off to a poor start in terms of transparency and bringing the public along in the process of this group.

As of this writing, the city website page for the Ad Hoc Committee still lists the August 26 meeting, its first meeting, and does not yet mention the September 9 meeting, nor is it listed on the city calendar. It is listed on the city’s meeting schedule at https://olympia.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

The meeting date was mentioned by Mayor Stephen Buxbaum in his council report at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

The group’s second meeting was actually scheduled for September 2, but postponed. The upcoming meeting is a work session for the committee to decide on a future schedule and community outreach techniques. 

Yesterday, Little Hollywood requested the city email addresses for the committee members, which are not yet listed on the city website. On August 18, Mayor Buxbaum said that individual committee members would have city email addresses.

Today, Kandace Johnson, secretary for the Olympia Police Department, and staff to the committee wrote: 

“….I have had other requests regarding the committee member emails and I am looking into whether I can release that or not and will get back to you.  This is the central inbox for the committee and any information sent here will be distributed to the committee members.”

For now, the email address for public comment and reaching committee members is PCR@ci.olympia.wa.us

For past articles about the Olympia Police Department, the shooting of Bryson Chaplin and Andre Thompson, body cameras, and the Ad Hoc Committee on Police and Community Relations, go to Little Hollywood, www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com, and type key words into the search engine. 

Olympia Planning Commissioners Meet Privately With Developer Before Zone Amendment Hearing

Olympia Planning Commissioners Meet Privately With Developer Before Zone Amendment Hearing

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By Janine Unsoeld

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

A situation of a possible violation of the Open Public Meetings Act when two strategically planned, off the record meetings and conversations occurred, involving six members of the city Planning Commission, three Olympia city councilmembers, and an area developer, Jim Morris.

The Planning Commission is a quasi-judicial body that hears land use issues and reports and makes recommendations to the city council.

Morris is a party to a code text amendment zoning case having to do with a professional office/residential multifamily zoning district in the Kaiser-Harrison area on the Westside of Olympia.

Morris is in favor of the proposed zoning code amendment, and submitted comments on it prior to the deadline of March 10.

March 10 at 5:00 p.m. was the last day to comment on the case, File 14-0210, which is currently before the Commission. Several community members who knew this made the effort to comment, with many requesting that no action be taken on this case by the Planning Commission or the council until all the facts, meetings held, and conversations are known.

Some community members are calling for the resignation of Chair Max Brown, Vice Chair Kim Andresen, and possibly others. These letters have been posted online at the City of Olympia website with the agenda for the next Planning Commission meeting on March 17.

The Planning Commission heard the case on March 3, and is scheduled to deliberate and vote on a recommendation on the zoning text amendment case involving Morris’ property on March 17, a decision which is forwarded to the city council. 

Letter About Off-the-Record Meetings

Late last week, Little Hollywood received emails containing two attachments: a letter dated March 8 from Judy Bardin, Olympia Planning Commissioner, addressed to Leonard Bauer, City of Olympia deputy director of the department of community development and planning, and a letter dated March 9 from attorney Bob Shirley to the Olympia Planning Commission.

The letter by Judy Bardin details that she was invited by telephone by Planning Commission vice chair Kim Andresen to attend a private meeting with developer Jim Morris and others related to the development field.

Bardin chose not to attend because she felt it would be a conflict of interest given Morris' interest in the zoning code amendment and her position on the Planning Commission. In February, she found out that four other members of the Commission and city councilmember Nathaniel Jones attended the meeting held January 31 at the offices of Jim Morris.

On March 3, another meeting was held with Morris, real estate agents and others, with Planning Commissioner Carole Richmond, Mayor Stephen Buxbaum and Councilmember Cheryl Selby in attendance. The evening of March 3 was when the Planning Commission heard the zoning case in a public hearing.

Bardin said she decided to write the letter because she is concernedabout the integrity of the Olympia Planning Commission and concerned for the public perception of the commission with respect to whether it is dedicated only to the public interest.
Bardin goes on to say that she does not think the commission should take any action on File 14-0210 and that the vote scheduled for March 17 should be tabled indefinitely.

The March 3 Planning Commission Meeting

In the online audiotape of the March 3 meeting of the Planning Commission at http://olympia.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1113, Planning Commission Chair Max Brown tries to quickly shut down Ms. Bardin's question about the meeting with Morris held earlier in the day. The conversation starts at 1:39:30, and lasts almost exactly five minutes.

There is great effort to get a minimal amount of information dragged out of city planner Amy Buckler, who chooses her words carefully, and Planning Commission Chair Brown about the meeting.

The following is an unofficial transcript as heard from the audiotape by Janine Unsoeld and is not to be used for legal purposes.

Bardin: I wondered if Commissioner Andresen could fill us in on the meeting at Morris’ office today.

Andresen: That was a private meeting, you mean, it didn’t really have anything to do with the business at hand though.

Brown: Yea, I think I’ll take that one off the record for - since it’s not part of the - our liaison assignments – I’ll leave that ‘til a later time.

Bardin: Could we hear who was at the meeting?

Brown: (asking Andresen) Are you OK with that, or -

Andresen: Could we ask staff if this is pertinent to the meeting?

Buckler: Well, I think what she’s asking is, ah, the Planning Commission leadership and the Planning Commission itself wanted to meet with some economic development or developers – to learn about development issues in general and I think you announced it at another meeting or told everybody or invited everybody  individually to come outside of a quorum, to sit with some developers, not to speak about any particular projects themselves but just issues in general as part of your efforts to learn more. And when it was discussed at the leadership team meeting it was - Leonard was at the last one of these events - it was announced at that particular event that this was not specific to any issue with the city, there’s not a quorum, it was a general discussion about development issues, just like when other groups meet to learn more about their specific issues, like the Carnegie Group, so –

Bardin: So, I’m just curious, umm, who was at – there was an earlier meeting?

Male Voice: Yes.

Bardin: So, there were two meetings that were basically the same, pretty much the same, today, and the earlier meeting, sort of the same agenda?

Buckler: The same agenda existed for both…I’m trying to figure out what information you would need….the whole planning commission has had the opportunity to be there.

Bardin: Right, but it would just be nice to get, like, a report. Was anything discussed that was relevant to planning and who was at the two meetings?

At this point Chair Brown jumps in, speaking quickly.

Brown: I can give a report - I just don’t want to take up more time since this wasn’t something that we were going to discuss as tonight’s meeting. I’ll give a quick overview…and we can talk about this off-line. The day that we went, I think, there were four commissioners: myself, Commissioner Andresen, Commissioner Parker, Commissioner Horn, city councilmember Mayor Pro-Tem Jones was there, and then a group of four or five, either developers or commercial real estate folks and they were just kind of saying, ‘Here’s some of the opportunities that the city has to or that we see – or that other jurisdictions are using to help incentivize growth and to get projects moving.’ There’s kind of a perception in the community – and Leonard was there as well – and I think, it was just, more than anything, it was a question and answer opportunity for us as officials and city staff to say, ‘What are other jurisdictions doing to help you that’s making it easier for you to do business here that we can be aware of and it was really just kind of some pretty candid conversations about past opportunities that have been missed or, umm, projects that have had opportunities but never been developed but we were very clear about saying any projects that anyone is intimately involved with or working on currently is not to be discussed and those issues were not discussed. It was really just an informative – and I think part of it, too, was to build those relationships of something that hasn’t been in the past to say, ‘What did we learn, what do we not know, you’re the experts, we’re not, what can we do, so I think I’d like to leave it there and kind of wrap it up real quick if you don’t mind and feel free to ask me questions of the meeting or those that have participated. There might be one more and if you have time to go I think it would be very beneficial to hear what people are doing and what people are trying to make happen….

Brown then abruptly adjourns the meeting after getting a first and a second to do so.

Brown, in explaining that at least one more meeting was planned, assures that, eventually, all planning commissioners and city councilmembers would have been extended the opportunity to privately attend one of these off the record meetings, again, without any official quorum, just prior to votes by both bodies about the code amendment case involving Morris.

Commissioner Richmond's Perspective

In a public email on March 9, Planning Commissioner Carole Richmond said that the meeting she attended on March 3, the same day as the Commission meeting, was not about the zoning change affecting Morris' property, which she says was never brought up.

Richmond says Andresen did not stay for the March 3 meeting, because she said she had a “professional relationship” with Jim Morris, indicating that she is an employee or consultant to Morris. Leonard Bauer, deputy director of the city’s Community, Planning and Development department, attended the first meeting.

“Issues discussed were: The homeless situation and how that affects the desirability of doing business or living downtown, lack of a unified vision for the future of Olympia, the costs of construction downtown, restrictions imposed by lenders (one of whom was also in the room), and "things taking too long." That was about it and it was just a free-flowing conversation. These are certainly issues over which the City Council and Planning Commission have some influence, but none of these issues have taken the form of proposals to be acted upon. I think these are issues that developers (and others) would like the Council and Commission to put on the radar,” said Richmond in the email.

Richmond goes on to say that she is glad that Bardin brought the issue to the attention of the whole Planning Commission because of the "appearance of fairness" issue.

"Morris scheduled these meetings so that less than a quorum of Planning Commissioners could attend (at staff/OPC request) and that looks bad. Given a choice, I would've preferred for one meeting with developers to be held during a regular Planning Commission meeting, as nothing was discussed that couldn't be said in public, but I didn't question this. I do know that many developers don’t particularly want to take part in public processes and I wanted to hear what they had to say,” said Richmond.

City Response to Public Comment

Leonard Bauer, city deputy director of Community Planning and Development, sent a letter via email on March 12 at 5:26 p.m., to all those who commented, including Little Hollywood, on the meetings with Morris.

The letter summarizes information about the two meetings, providing explanations that were never given at the commission meetings by staff, commissioners, nor mentioned by city councilmembers Jones, Buxbaum, or Selby during their council reports.

It is common practice for commissioners and city council members to report their attendance at community meetings that they attend, especially if more than one or two or three attended the same meeting.

Bauer attended the January 31 meeting. He states that at the beginning of each meeting, it was stated and agreed that there could be no discussion of any issues that could become the subject of review by either the Planning Commission or City Council, including no discussion of any specific permit or specific use.

Bauer says the topics of conversation included that the cost of construction in downtown Olympia is high, making redevelopment difficult; impact fees are high and the timing of the payment may be difficult to finance; lending practices for construction can make it difficult to redevelop; the usefulness of the multi-family housing tax credit program; increased homelessness has had negative impacts on potential development in downtown Olympia; and a perceived lack of a unified vision by the city for development in Olympia.

Great topics, worthy of public discussion, yet, Morris and others were able to privately control the conversation, and personally reach and possibly influence six out of nine Planning Commissioners and three out of seven city councilmembers.

One public, official opportunity was never offered to the commissioners, councilmembers or the public to learn more about these “economic development opportunities” or “barriers to development” from a developer’s perspective.

Many commenting on the situation feel that the fact that no one spoke up about the meetings until the issue was forced by Commissioner Bardin seems to be a deliberate attempt to circumvent the spirit of the Open Public Meetings Act. Such actions cast suspicion on how prevalent the practice is of purposefully arranged private meetings of members of the same body to prevent a quorum, which would trigger public notice and recording of the conversation.

“I am concerned about the integrity of the OPC, since it has recently come to light that they are having secret meetings with developers. While this might technically be legal, it sure is sleazy. How can I pursue this problem as a private citizen?” writes Nancy Sullivan to the city clerk in a March 9 email.

“…According to a member of the Planning Commission, the staff and members of the Commission recently met in private with a party with a material interest in the instant rezone request – an ethical and legal breach of practice. There was, evidently, an awareness of the fact that such meetings were improper….Will there be consequence in this instance? Will the consultant to the developer be asked to resign from her post? Will the tarnished rezone issue be withdrawn from consideration? Will this initiate a serious review of how the city conducts itself and does business? I look forward to learning the steps the city will take,” writes Bethany Weidner to Community Planning and Development staff in a March 9 email.

The City of Olympia website is www.olympiawa.gov.