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CASE BACKGROUND: The plaintiff Ostling family is expected to wrap up its case early this week. They’re suing the city of Bainbridge Island for alleged civil rights violations against Douglas Ostling, the night the 43-year-old was shot and killed by police.
Reporter Tristan Baurick will be in court live blogging the proceedings today. Court is set to begin at 9:30 a.m.
Kitsap County prosecutors appear to have filed the first ever charges in the county against someone for possessing synthetic marijuana. “Spice,” “K2″ and other so-called “synthetic cannabinoids” were officially banned by the state’s pharmacy board in November 2010.
Possession of substances known as “bath salts,” “plant food,” “Ivory Wave,” and “White Lightning,” are now felonies and can be punishable by up to five years in prison.
(Other authorities, I should add — the Navy, for instance — had already banned Spice.)
In early May, it appears the first person in Kitsap — a 24-year-old Poulsbo man — was charged with having Space.
“Not positive Josh,” wrote back Kevin Kelly, the deputy prosecutor who charged the case, “But it is the first time I have charged it so I think chances are good that it is.”
Here’s what happened: Kitsap County sheriff’s deputies were called to the Suquamish Clearwater Casino in the early morning hours of May 5 for the report of a man seen using a narcotics pipe. Surveillance video showed him using the pipe, which was glass and “multi-colored,” sheriff’s reports of the incident said.
While he denied having a pipe at first, a deputy saw a something in his front left pocket “weighing it down.”
The deputy said it didn’t smell like marijuana and asked the man what kind of tobacco he smoked.
“He thought for a minute and then told me that it was not tobacco but that it was ‘spice,’” deputies wrote.
In his pocket, deputies found a container that had “quality potpourri,” written on it. It was cotton candy flavor.
The man said he’d gotten it at a store in Poulsbo. He was arrested.
The deputy who drove him to jail said the Poulsbo man “was asking the same questions over and over again.”
“He seemed to be very impaired and altered,” the deputy wrote in his report.
He was booked into the Kitsap County jail for possession of the drug and charged with the same crime the next day by prosecutors.
Ed Friedrich writes:
State Trooper Russ Winger warned sailors aboard the USS
Stennis last week
that if they drink and drive in Kitsap County, they’ll be caught
and, at the least, their Navy careers will be over.
Winger was invited to the aircraft carrier to speak about DUI
prevention,
aggressive driving and safe driving. The sailors, who were deployed
to the
Middle East and Western Pacific, hadn’t driven in seven months.
Winger has lived and worked here all his life. He likes the
military. But
don’t expect him to go easy on them if they’re driving drunk.
“We’re like sharks in the water, looking for blood,” he said.
If a sailor gets busted for drinking and driving, they can
expect to be
booked, go before their command for punishment, not to mention
embarrassment, have their car impounded for 12 hours, and spend at
least
$5,000 for the ordeal.
“Don’t come out here thinking we’re not going to do our jobs,” Winger said.
He said the one thing he does that he knows makes a difference
is taking an
impaired driver off the road.
The Navy makes it easier to avoid DUIs by offering free rides
home, and
hundreds of ride cards were handed out as the sailors got off the
ship
Friday.
“We take prisoners, we really do,” Winger said. “We don’t like to do it, but we’re going to do it. I hope I don’t have to arrest anybody here because I know the gravity for someone in the military. It’ll cost a lot of money and ruin a career.”
Cops aren’t dumb, Winger said. They know where the bars are how
to get to
them.
“Escape routes are narrow,” he said. “The only people out after midnight are drunks and cops and it’s likely they’ll meet up somewhere.”
Some Bainbridge Islanders have formed a Facebook page in response to a likely DUI crash on Bainbridge a few weeks back, and the outpouring of community support for it is quite impressive.
Dubbed, “Won’t Ask, Won’t Tell,” the page aims to provide teens a place they can look for phone numbers of adults who will give them a ride home, regardless of whether intoxicants were involved.
Here’s how the founders describe the site:
“We want everyone in our island community to be safe. We want teens in our community to know that whenever they find themselves in a potentially dangerous situation involving alcohol, drugs and driving – or potential date abuse – they can call any one of us – or text – anytime, and we pledge to come and get you and take you home. We won’t ask you why, and we won’t tell your parents. We just want you to be safe.”
More than 700 people had already hit the like button on the page and the list of phone numbers is quite lengthy. Stories about it have also appeared in the island’s Review and on KOMO.
I’m curious to know how people are feeling about such an effort. Do you think it could spread elsewhere?
It appears to be the end of the road —or rather a ferry route — for a prison older than Washington state itself.
Indeed, our very own Alcatraz.
McNeil Island Corrections Center, home to about 500 inmates and a place where 245 DOC employees work, is closing after 135 years of protecting the public and punishing and rehabilitating felons.
It’s uncertain what this will mean for the Special Commitment Center, also housed on the island for sexually violent predators and run by the state’s Department of Social and Health Services. But DOC stands to save about $6.3 million a year, according to a press release.
“This will save the most money without compromising the safety of our staff, the offenders and the public,” DOC Secretary Eldon Vail said in the release. “The budget crisis is causing us to make some of the most painful decisions in our agency’s history.”
Here’s what I wrote about McNeil in an entry last year:
The territorial prison there got its first prisoners — two men who’d sold booze to Native Americans and one who’d robbed a fort store — in 1875, according to HistoryLink. When I visited the place last spring, the man who provided escort for me on the ferry ride told me an interesting fact. It wasn’t built for Alcatraz-like security reasons (i.e. its icy cold water surroundings) but rather because that’s just the way everyone commuted back then.
This prison’s older than the state itself, also giving it
the unique distinction of being the only prison that started as
a territorial facility, which then became a federal pen in 1890,
and then a state prison in 1981. It was supposed to be temporary to
run it to allieve overcrowding, but now almost 28 years later, it’s
still going.
It’s expensive, as you might imagine, to haul inmates — and all the things that go to incarcerate them — on a ferry. That’s the likely reason for its possible closure.
If they do close it, perhaps the state could open it up to tourists — just like Alcatraz — and house a museum there.
Starting shortly after 1:30 p.m., I’ll post live updates from
the sentencing of Tye Moore, who
pleaded guilty last month to child molestation charges.
Here’s Chief Mike Lasnier’s statement on the Suquamish shooting:
“Information has been previously released regarding the officer involved shooting incident that occurred in Suquamish last night. All questions regarding the investigation, its status, or specific facts of the case should be referred to the Public Information Officer for the lead investigating agency, Deputy Scott Wilson of the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office.
Following the incident, the Suquamish Police Department followed standard law enforcement protocol, and requested assistance from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, and the Washington State Patrol, to ensure a fair and objective investigation into the incident. Both agencies responded without delay, and have provided assistance to our agency in this matter. The Suquamish Police Department and its officers are cooperating fully with the investigation. We are grateful to the Kitsap Sheriff’s Department and Washington State Patrol for their professional response and assistance in this matter.
At approximately 2130 on Saturday evening, officers were dispatched to a report of a disturbance with multiple shots fired on Newton Street in Suquamish. Upon arriving in the area, officers cautiously approached the residence, and contacted subjects outside of the house. One subject was a 34 year old career criminal with an extensive history of drug dealing, with 9 prior felony convictions for violent crimes, burglary, drug dealing and possession of drugs, as well as assault and intimidating witnesses. He also has 12 prior misdemeanor convictions for multiple crimes, including displaying weapons with intent to intimidate. He currently had a Felony “No Bail” “Caution” warrant for his arrest, for escape from the Washington State Department of Corrections on “community custody” for Drug Charges. When challenged by 3 officers in full uniform, the offender fled towards his vehicle, and refused commands to stop or show his hands. The offender entered a vehicle, started it, and rapidly accelerated towards the officers. One officer was struck by the bumper of the vehicle, and another had his foot run over. Both officers discharged their weapons, and the wanted, fleeing, dangerous felon was struck by gunfire. A female passenger also received minor wounds from secondary projectiles. The suspects fled the scene, went to a nearby residence to seek aid from friends, and got into a different vehicle to seek medical aid. The suspects realized they needed immediate medical assistance, so they drove to the Suquamish Police Department to seek help. Aid was obtained for them, and the male subject was flown to Harborview for the treatment of gunshot wounds, the Female passenger transported to Harrison Hospital in Bremerton.
Both officers struck by the suspect car were injured, and were transported by ambulance to Harrison Medical Center for treatment of their wounds. Both were treated and later released. After recovering from their injuries, the officers will be on administrative duties, which is standard procedure in incidents of this nature. Both officers are veterans of the department with over 7 years of service each.
I am confident that the Officers of the Suquamish Police Department acted appropriately in this matter. We welcome external review of this matter by County, State and Federal Authorities. Upon completion of the external review, we will be conducting an internal shooting review, which is standard department policy.
I am confident that the choices made by our officers were professional, legal and justified, and that this confidence will be supported following a thorough and exhaustive professional and legal review. My officers had a duty and obligation to respond and act, and they did so with a great deal of courage and professionalism. Anyone who attacks and attempts to murder police officers, whether with a gun, a knife, or the car used in this incident, should expect that any officer will respond in the same manner.
Additional information can be obtained from the lead investigation agency, the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Department.
A Kingston youngster and his mother drove to Lakewood Police Department Sunday to deliver some change and a stuffed dinosaur, reports the Tacoma News Tribune.
The trek deeply moved several officers there, as the boy — whose name is AJ — wanted to contribute to the “pleec” in their time of tragedy. It spurred one officer to write a letter to his colleagues, and the letter eventually found its way into the Tacoma paper’s hands. Here is the letter, whose writer remains anonymous, in part:
“We have seen many, many acts of generosity and kindness over the past 2 weeks. We have hugged more friends and strangers than we could have ever imagined and have mended broken ties with people we haven’t talked to for years. Yet nothing has touched me deeper, or given me more hope for the future, than AJ and his stuffed dinosaur. I gave AJ one of our department challenge coins, explaining to him that we only gave them out to the bravest and most deserving people we came across. I hope he will realize someday how much more than a dollar and some change he gave to me and to the Lakewood Police Department today.”
It’s hard not to be touched by such a wonderful story amid this tragedy. I encourage you to read the entire story here.
Updating an earlier item, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has found Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe’s natural resources officers acted “improperly” when detaining some Mason County elk hunters in Brinnon Oct. 3, according to the Peninsula Daily News.
Reporter Erik Hidle says both the sheriff’s office and the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife found the hunters, who had permission from the state to hunt the elk, had committed no violations and had not trespassed, and thus had committed no crime. The officers “lacked any legal authority to arrest or detain nontribal members off the reservation,” Hidle quoted Department of Fish and Wildlife Deputy Chief Mike Cenci as saying.
Here’s one additional snippet from the Peninsula Daily News story with a local connection:
“Jefferson County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Stringer, who is a former officer with Suquamish tribal police, has said that all tribal officers have jurisdiction only on tribal land, if they are dealing with tribal members or if they have a cross-commission from the sheriff.”
So what’s next?
The article indicates that Jefferson County prosecutors —
who might have help from the state’s attorney general’s office —
have the report and could file charges. Just what they file, if
they do, will remain a mystery for now.
Comes now the tale of a 19-year-old motorcyclist who allegedly didn’t like the idea of getting pulled over for speeding.
The Washington State Patrol had one of its aircraft flying and directing troopers on the ground to speeding vehicles on Highway 3 near Chico Way. The state uses a plane to conduct a speed trap on occasion, but only in Chico and Highway 16 near the Sedgwick interchange. (Watch a video of them doing air enforcement here.)
When the aircraft spotted the 19-year-old speeding, a trooper on the ground tried to stop him.
But he allegedly just kept going. And as troopers gave chase — up to 100 mph at certain points — the man zigzagged his way around Highway 3 and its exits at Loxie Eagans, Kitsap Way and Austin Drive.
Eventually, when he came to a bus, the troopers on the ground decided to call off the chase. But the aircraft kept its eye on him.
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