America’s police are under intense scrutiny following a string of highly-publicized incidents of police violence against civilians, especially blacks, that have resulted in deaths of innocent (and not-so-innocent) people, provoked protests, and left municipalities paying expensive legal settlements.
Undoubtedly the overwhelming majority of cops are decent, hard-working, and do their jobs well. The problems are caused by a handful of bad apples, many of them repeat offenders, and as journalists dig deeper into these incidents they’re finding that some of them have been fired — only to be promptly rehired and put back on the streets by another police agency.
Tukwila has agreed to pay a $175,000 settlement to a black man whose ankle was broken by a white cop who then made a racist remark during a violent 2011 arrest. Tukwila previously paid $100,000 to another man whose elbow was broken by the same cop during a violent 2013 arrest. Incredibly, Tukwila hired this cop in 2009 after he was rejected by four other police agencies, partly because of a known gang affiliation in his past, and refused to discipline him despite repeated violent incidents and complaints to supervisors by his fellow officers.
Tukwila finally fired him; but, even more incredibly, he was then hired by the Snoqualmie police department, which also polices North Bend, and is working as a cop again.
You can read the story here and here.
Photo: Snoqualmie Police Chief Steve McCulley, left, refuses to explain to the media why he hired a violent cop who was fired by Tukwila after costing that city hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal judgments for using excessive force.