SEATTLE — A report released late last month revealed two Seattle police officers received a day's suspension for waiting over 20 minutes to respond to a shooting in 2022.
The Office of Police Accountability (OPA), released a report on its investigation into an anonymous complaint and found the two officers "failed to take appropriate action for a high-priority call."
The complaint stems from a shooting that happened at The Showbox SODO on Dec. 18, 2022. The complaint alleged the two officers, and a student officer, took 23 minutes to arrive at the scene of the shooting despite marking themselves as "en route" shortly after being dispatched to the call.
OPA found the officers remained at the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild building, noted as only a four-minute drive to the music venue, after they marked themselves "en route."
The complaint said the officers reported "nothing was going on" after they arrived at the scene.
Harborview Medical Center called police nearly an hour later to report they had received a shooting victim. The victim later told police he was shot while trying to break up a fight outside the venue.
The complaint also alleged the officers' actions following the incident were in an attempt to "cover up" their "lack of diligence." The complaint said the officer initially indicated the shooting victim was unrelated to the call at the music venue but later corrected that with an incident report under the original report.
In an interview with OPA, the student officer, considered a witness in the investigation, said “Makes me feel like we dropped the ball. We should have done more. Doesn’t make me feel good. Feel like definitely should have been some exigency behind that. Because lives could have been more in danger than they were.”
When asked by investigators why the officers took so long to respond, one of the officers said he "was likely using the restroom, eating a meal, or '[sitting] there in the car and [writing] reports.'"
OPA concluded in its report the two officers taking 23 minutes to "transition from a non-emergency activity — like eating a meal, writing a report, or using the restroom — to respond to a priority one gunshot call is unacceptable."
OPA recommended the officers be suspended for one to three days.
