Seattle officers appeal dismissal of use-of-force restrictions lawsuit

Dozens of Seattle police officers have appealed the dismissal of a federal lawsuit in which they had tried to throw out new rules restricting use of force on the grounds that it endangered both them and the public.

At the center of the court tussle are reforms enacted in Jan. 2014 as a result of a federal investigation into "excessive" use of force practices at the Seattle Police Department (SPD).

The new policy required officers to think about ways they could de-escalate confrontations before moving contemplating more forceful means. Officers argued that the new rules endangered them in fast-moving and potentially dangerous scenarios.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman ruled that it was reasonable to impose such use of force policies, and threw out the lawsuit. But on Friday the plaintiffs filed an appeal to that decision, according to court documents.

The 89 SPD officers involved in the appeal claimed the regulations represented an abuse of power that “shocks the conscience,” according to the Seattle Times. Pechman responded to the claim, saying, “It does not shock the conscience to see certain de-escalation procedures imposed on police officers in an effort by their Department to avoid a pattern of excessive use of force.”

The 2011 U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation found in 2011 that Seattle police too often used unnecessary force, adding that it amounted to a pattern of excessive force — especially against minorities. In 2012, the DOJ reached an agreement with Seattle in which new reforms would be enforced.

The investigation was prompted by a series of high-profile confrontations between the SPD and minorities.

The Aug. 2010 fatal shooting of Native American woodcarver John T. Williams was one of those incidents. Williams, who was partially deaf, was carrying a block of wood and a carving knife when an officer ordered him to drop the knife — a command he did not respond to before the officer shot and killed him.

After the new policies were enacted at the beginning of the year, over 120 officers from the SPD sued the police department, the city of Seattle, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder among others. They argued the polices represented a "reckless and deliberate indifference" to the officers' right to defend themselves, court documents showed.

In the official complaint, officers said the reformed use of force policies "unreasonable restrict and burden plaintiffs' right to use force reasonably required, to protect themselves and others, from apparent harm and danger ... (and) require —  without appropriate consideration of an officer's knowledge, training, experience, or the apparent danger of the circumstances confronting him or her — that plaintiffs use significantly less force than is being threatened against them by suspects."

But SPD Chief Kathleen O'Toole said in September in an internal email to department employees that she was "not aware of any injury that has resulted from an officer hesitating to use force."

"The SPD Use of Force policy represents a consensus reached after months of serious negotiations involving all stakeholders, including line officers and their representatives," she said, according to the SPD blog. The officers' appeal will be taken to a San Francisco-based federal appeals court according to the officers’ attorney, Athan Tramountanas, the Seattle times reported.

With wire services