Tacoma’s newest City Council member sues the city, 10 police officers over her arrest
Editor’s note: This story was updated Feb. 1, 2024 to include the employment statuses of the Tacoma Police Department officers named as defendants in the lawsuit.
One of Tacoma’s newest City Council members sued the city and 10 police officers Monday in U.S. District Court for what she claims was a wrongful arrest in 2021 that officers tried to cover up by falsifying reports.
Jamika Scott, who was elected last year to represent District 3, which covers Hilltop, Central Tacoma and parts of South Tacoma, was arrested by the Tacoma Police Department the night of Jan. 23, 2021 in downtown. According to the lawsuit, Scott went there to conduct public oversight after an officer hit five people with a patrol car and ran over a sixth when he drove through a crowd at an illegal intersection-takeover for street racing.
Scott was recording video of the scene, which was cordoned off by police tape. Her attorney, Beverly Allen, wrote in the court filing that about three hours had passed since the initial incident when police responded to a crowd of more than a hundred people gathered at Pacific Avenue and South 9th Street. Allen said the area had been peaceful for hours.
Scott and 12 other observers were north of the police tape on Pacific when Scott claims the police fabricated a reason to order their dispersal — ostensibly to get them to comply with an “outer perimeter.” The suit alleges the officers then crossed the police tape and “attacked” the observers, shoving Scott and smacking from her hand the phone she was using to record video.
No charges were filed against Scott or the one other person who was arrested. Scott previously said she was booked on suspicion of obstructing a public official and was released from Pierce County Jail hours after being brought there.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Scott said the City of Tacoma had failed the community when it comes to providing adequate training and holding its systems of public safety to the high standard the community deserves. Scott said she believed city employees too often delivered services inequitably.
“If officers are not empowered to do their jobs in an effective, transparent, and constitutionally aligned manner, it sets them up for failure,” Scott said in a written statement. “If we continue to use officers as the catch-all solution to all of our ongoing societal problems, we are going to continue to see low recruitment numbers, demoralization, and burnout.”
The 10 police officers named as defendants in the lawsuit are Christopher Bain, Connor Cockle, Shane Genis, Daren Holter, Christopher Munn, Patrick Patterson, Brent Roberts, Scott Shafner, Jeffrey Smith and Douglas Walsh. A Tacoma police spokesperson said all but Cockle remained employed by the department as of Jan. 29.
A spokesperson for the city said she couldn’t comment on the lawsuit because the litigation is ongoing.
The suit was also filed against three unnamed individuals identified as Does 1-3 who were described as either officers or supervisors who participated in the allegedly unlawful events or policymakers who promoted or ratified policies, customs and practices the suit identifies as unconstitutional.
Scott’s lawsuit also claims that Tacoma police singled her out the night of her arrest because of her status as a community leader. The council member co-founded the Tacoma Action Collective in 2015, which aims to end “systemic oppression and systemic violence” as well as empower people to build “autonomous communities rooted in equality and justice.” She has also been an ardent supporter of the family of Manuel Ellis, who died in police custody in 2020.
“It’s very clear from videos that Ms. Scott was targeted soon after she announced she was there to ensure transparency and accountability in the ongoing investigation,” Allen said in a news release. “Tacoma police officers walked past other individuals engaged in filming before singling out, assaulting, and arresting Ms. Scott.”
Scott said she anticipated that some would question her motives for bringing a lawsuit against the city or claim that the action would cause division on the City Council.
“While acknowledging and respecting this is an action that will bring a mix of emotions from various corners of our community, she sees it as a necessary step in shining a light on the work still left to do when it comes to changing outdated systems that were never made to serve all,” Scott’s news release stated.
The lawsuit includes a demand for a civil jury trial but does not specify an amount of damages sought in the matter. When Scott filed claims against the city over the same allegations in July last year, records showed she sought $100,000 in damages.
Body-camera footage shows Scott’s arrest
Body-camera footage of the encounter shared by Scott showed an officer believed to be Smith telling onlookers to disperse as he ducked under the tape at 9:31 p.m. He and another officer pushed past one person who appeared to be recording video and then approached Scott.
The officer told Scott to move back twice, placing his hands on her arms and body several times while she said she had a right to be there and told the officer not to touch her. About 20 people were behind her, mostly on the sidewalk. The officer said she would be arrested if she didn’t disperse. Scott backed up a few feet, and a group of officers advanced on the crowd.
About a minute into the encounter, Scott appeared to walk back into the street, and she was surrounded by six or more officers. The officer again told her she would be arrested if she didn’t disperse, and he put his hands on her again. The video quickly became chaotic from there as Scott twisted from the officers grasp and went to the ground near a curb.
At least seven officers moved past Scott and yelled at the other onlookers to move back while Scott was handcuffed face down. In a press release issued Tuesday, an attorney for Scott said officers cut her off from the crowd, with one grabbing at her cell phone and causing her to trip and fall. She was then taken to the Pierce County Jail.
Scott also shared cell phone video she took minutes before her arrest showing two officers approaching her and other observers to ask them to move a block west to Commerce Street. Scott said she was there with others from a community oversight committee, and they were going to watch the investigation.
An attorney for Scott said in a news release that the officer appeared to shake his head in frustration and turned back to a line of officers. The attorney said they presume deposition and discovery will show that police consulted with their colleagues and decided it was necessary to use increased force to move bystanders away from the scene.
Here’s how one report from the Tacoma Police Department described Scott’s arrest:
“While performing crowd control, I overheard Sgt. Smith advise a female, later identified as a/Jamika Scott, was under arrest and witnessed him attempt to detain her,” one TPD officer wrote. “I witnessed a/Jamika pull away from Sgt. Smith and attempt to flee northbound on Pacific Ave from S 9th St. I assisted Sgt. Smith in escorting the female to the ground and then detaining her in wrist restraints that were double locked and checked for tightness. I then escorted a/Jamika to a patrol vehicle.”
Scott’s attorneys identified a portion of this report as false, claiming that it falsely impugns her as a criminal who would flee. The suit states that video of the incident and the accounts of other officers and observers reveals Scott was assaulted and shoved along a stormwater trench as she fell to the pavement.
Lawsuit claims civil rights were violated
Scott’s lawsuit claims there were at least five violations of the U.S. Constitution related to the incident, including the First Amendment and the Fourth Amendment, which protect the right to free speech and protect people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government, respectively.
The first was allegedly a First Amendment violation. The lawsuit claims that officers’ order for onlookers to disperse was a violation meant to punish observers and critics as well as obfuscate a “horrific vehicular assault by police.” Scott’s attorney wrote that she had a right to record law enforcement activities, and her words at the scene and her video were what motivated officers to unlawfully arrest her.
The second and third alleged violations related to the Fourth Amendment. Scott claimed her arrest was unlawful and that four officers used excessive force on her by pressing a knee into her back, shoving her and slamming her to the ground. Scott’s attorney wrote that the defendants needed to use “zero force” because they had no legal justification to disperse the observers.
Scott’s fourth allegation accuses all 10 officers of participating in conspiracy to violate her First and Fourth Amendment rights. The suit claims they agreed to fabricate a false justification for removing observers from the police line, and the after the attack, “several defendants” falsified incident reports to cover up the violations of the whole group.
It goes on to describe at least seven alleged instances of false reports related to the incident.
The fifth claim alleges that the defendants were guilty of negligence for breaching their standard of care to refrain from causing foreseeable harm to Scott. It claims the officers ignored her peacefulness and criminal innocence and instead silenced, attacked and imprisoned her without justification.
The final allegation is for defamation. Scott claims three of the officers wrote false statements in their reports concerning Scott which caused reputational and emotional harm to her. It also claims the City of Tacoma is liable for the defamatory statements for publishing them online.
This story was originally published January 24, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
