Man claims Tacoma police ‘slammed’ him in Wright Park. City moving to settle for $300K
One night in July 2020, a man was sitting by himself in Wright Park when Tacoma police officers approached, court documents show. His attorneys say he was then handcuffed and “violently slammed” onto a picnic table.
The Pierce County resident, Zimmeri Contreraz, claims that the “excessive force” incident resulted in an injured neck and lost wages. He sued, naming the city of Tacoma among the defendants.
Earlier this week, the City Council took a step forward in the legal skirmish with Contreraz. Council members moved to authorize the city to settle the case “upon payment by the City in the amount of $300,000 and execution of a release in a form approved by the City Attorney,” per the agenda for the Tuesday council meeting.
Seven voted in favor of the motion with Council member Jamika Scott abstaining.
Attempts by The News Tribune to reach Contreraz’s attorneys for comment were not immediately successful.
Scott explained her reason for abstaining in an emailed statement. One of the officers in this case is a defendant in Scott’s active lawsuit stemming from her “unlawful arrest that took place in January 2021,” she wrote.
“It is essential for public officials to uphold the highest standards of transparency and integrity in their actions,” Scott continued. “By abstaining from the vote, it’s my goal to maintain the public’s trust in the decision-making process and avoid any perception of bias or conflict of interest.”
During the Tuesday meeting’s public comment portion, a speaker pointed out that some people are frustrated by how many tax dollars are used to settle police-accountability cases with claims of excessive force. Laurie Arnold urged the council and city manager to seek better ways of handling the matters.
“We’ve got to put more teeth into our police-accountability structures,” Arnold said. “Taxpayers should not continue to foot this kind of a bill.”
Contreraz’s legal case stems from an emergency call, court documents show. A person claimed to have been threatened by a Black man with a knife and a white man with a firearm.
The witness’s description of the Black suspect led officers to their encounter with Contreraz, who was “detained with handcuffs, searched and questioned,” according to his attorneys.
The city’s legal team pointed out that Contreraz wasn’t ultimately arrested and argued in court records that officers hadn’t targeted him over his race. He happened to be wearing an outfit that was similar to what the witness described and was in the park, 501 S. I St., where the crime was said to have occurred.
The defense alleged that Contreraz had offered inconsistent testimony about the “slamming” incident. At one point, he’d stated that an officer pointed a gun in his face and “threatened to ‘blow [his expletive] head off,” according to the city’s attorneys. They added that such verbiage sounds like a “poorly rehearsed script for a bad TV show.”
City spokesperson Maria Lee told The News Tribune via email that the case would stay active “until the settlement agreement is executed and the order of dismissal entered.” After that, she said, the city would be barred from talking about its rationale for the settlement, citing privileged information.
This story was originally published April 25, 2024 at 10:00 AM.
