SEATTLE — A crash victim was in court Friday, attempting to revive a lawsuit against the City of Seattle.
The case centers around a 2006 incident when a vehicle fleeing police crashed into a retaining wall in Seward Park. Channary Hor, 16 at the time of the crash, was a passenger in the vehicle and alleges in the lawsuit that Seattle police violated department policy and pursued the vehicle she was in.
According to court documents, Hor was riding in the vehicle with Omar Tammam, whom she had met on May 18, 2006, when police confronted them after the park closed. Tammam tried to flee from police with Hor as the passenger and reached speeds of 86 miles an hour before crashing. Tammam continued to flee on foot. Hor suffered injuries that left her quadriplegic.
The lawsuit alleges two Seattle police units gave pursuit, which lasted about a minute, violating the policy that bans high-speed pursuits except when officers think a serious crime has been committed.
The City of Seattle denied its officers engaged in a vehicle pursuit in a trial brief. The brief stated that Tammam's criminal acts were the sole cause of the crash.
"They denied that they were in a pursuit of the vehicle that Channery was in,” said Colleen Durkin Peterson, Channary Har’s attorney.
A jury found the officers and City of Seattle were not liable.
In 2017, Har said information surfaced that one of the officers at the scene, Arron Grant, provided false testimony.
"Officer Grant took his life in his home due to the testimony that he provided in Channery's case, and it became known that he had told a number of his fellow officers that he was pressured to provide false testimony,” said Durkin Peterson.
On Friday, they revisited what happened, with Har’s legal team going first followed by attorneys for the City of Seattle.
Ultimately, to Har's disappointment, the judge found no clear and convincing evidence of fraud, and denied the plaintiff’s motion.