To All Good People of Spokane:
The wheels on this cover up of the Otto Zehm death at the hands of Spokane police leadership are flying off and now is running on its axles with sparks flying. With the new reporting by the Bernstein & Woodward reporting by S-R reporters Jonathan Brunt, Tom Clouse, Shawn Vestal and columnist Doug Clark this tangled web of deceit is now being exposed in full daylight. For those old enough to remember the Nixon Era Watergate Scandal this current scandal has ever indication of repeating history.
Read the S-R article comment threads of the latest articles on this breaking story of the Zehm cover up. This cover up now appears to go all the way to the Office of the Mayor. This cover up was either known by, sanctioned by and or at least tolerated by the Office of the Mayor, the City Attorney and the Police Command Staff of the Spokane Police Department.
It’s inconceivable that Mayor Mary Verner, City Attorney Howard Delaney ably assisted by Rocky Treppiedi and Chief Anne Kirkpatrick knew nothing of this active cover up after the US Attorney’s Office filed it’s brief in federal court on April 13, 2010. What have they been doing for over the last year and a half?
The Otto Zehm case was a wrongful death case. Mistakes were made. SPD and City leadership should have quickly recognized, changes made, apologies offered and settlements quickly paid. It would have been cheaper in the long run. I’m growing very tired of paying expensive judgments and attorneys fees as a taxpayer for City leaders bungling and covering up these mistakes. Those complicit will not have to pay out of their pockets unless the feds bring criminal sanctions against those complicit in this cover up.
I have a solution that I offered to City Council this past Monday night. Council apparently wishes to remain in the dark, feeding on mushrooms and wringing it’s hands that it is powerless to act. I’m sorry the Council has no cojones. If our elected leaders who are incapable and or unwilling of fixing this very serious problem, WE THE CITIZENS must act to fix this problem.
As I commented in Brunt’s latest damning expose in today’s paper:
Our problem is not with the many fine good men and women of the police rank and file that protect us day in day out with the exception of the few that needed to be weeded out. Sorry to the astute readers here that already know my thoughts about this very serious problem we face.
Our problem is with the police leadership and our appointed and elected leaders that will do NOTHING to change the status quo and further those same leaders who were complicit in and or aided or abetted in the cover up of Otto Zehm’s death. I would encourage all Spokane citizens reading here to read the most recent S-R article comment threads on the Zehm death.
I have a solution and recommended it to our Council that chooses to remain in the dark and wring it hands that they have no authority. Sorry I will invoke the Palin invective cojones they have none. They did NOTHING and did not discuss it at their most recent meeting:
http://www.spokesman.com/
The Council by resolution request the assistance the US Attorney’s Office to expand it’s current criminal investigation using its federal grand jury power to include anyone who aided and abetted this cover up including the City Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Mayor for obstruction of justice (**).
I am in the process with others in preparing a letter to the US Attorney’s Office requesting that they take action as I outlined in my presentation to Council [http://tinyurl.com/4xahoas]. We will secure signatures of diverse community leaders and former public office holders. When this letter is finished and signed, it will be posted on the Net with an online petition. All citizens who are in agreement can sign the petition in support. Please watch for specifics on my web page www.ronthecop.com.
Please remember it is WE THE CITIZENS that empower those whom we choose to govern. We should not live in fear of our government and or our police.
As I concluded in my Council presentation with:
We the citizens of Spokane have a fundamental right to have an effective, accountable police department that controls crime, ensures respect for the Constitution, and enjoys the trust of the public it is charged with protecting. In the end it is we who are the police and the police are us.
What I didn’t include in this excerpt was what will be done with this letter:
At the appropriate time a press conference will be called in front of the Federal Courthouse in Downtown Spokane with those signing the letter. The letter and petition in support will be hand delivered to Michael Ormsby the US Attorney for the Eastern District of WA. Of course all will be invited to attend.