Judge dismisses Tacoma City Council member’s lawsuit over her 2021 arrest
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Federal judge ruled police had probable cause to arrest Jamika Scott in 2021.
- Court granted officers qualified immunity and dismissed all civil rights claims.
- Bodycam footage showed Scott resisted dispersal before arrest at crime scene.
A federal judge has tossed out a lawsuit brought by Tacoma City Council member Jamika Scott, who claimed she was wrongly arrested while observing a police scene in 2021, hours after an officer dispatched to disperse street racers downtown drove through a crowd.
U.S. District Court Judge Tiffany Cartwright, who is based in Tacoma, said police had probable cause to arrest Scott for obstruction and found the 10 officers named as defendants were entitled to qualified immunity, which protects police officers from civil rights liability under certain circumstances.
Scott, who at the time was not a member of City Council and was not charged with a crime, alleged her civil rights were violated, that police used excessive force and that she was defamed by false statements included in police reports concerning her arrest, which she said were published online by the City of Tacoma.
Scott and a group of other observers were at the scene the night of Jan. 23, 2021 at the corner of South 9th Street and Pacific Avenue. They were gathered outside the perimeter established by police, but at some point scene commanders decided to expand the scene, and Scott was arrested while officers tried to move the observers.
Cartwright dismissed the lawsuit Sept. 5 in a 32-page written order. While outlining the court’s role on summary judgment, which was brought in a defense motion, Cartwright said Scott had cited “barely any evidence” in support of her arguments.
“There is no genuine dispute of any material fact and [Officer Jeffrey] Smith had probable cause to arrest Scott as a matter of law,” Cartwright wrote.
Cartwright said Scott argued there was not probable cause for her arrest because mere presence or passive noncompliance does not constitute obstruction. But Cartwright said the objective evidence showed that Scott was not arrested until she moved past officers into the street while physically resisting their attempts to move her out of the area.
The 10 police officers named as defendants were Christopher Bain, Connor Cockle, Shane Genis, Daren Holter, Christopher Munn, Patrick Patterson, Brent Roberts, Scott Shafner, Smith and Douglas Walsh. Cockle left Tacoma for the Lakewood Police Department in January 2022.
A spokesperson for The City of Tacoma told The News Tribune the city had “Nothing further to share on this topic.”
In a phone call, Scott said she remained frustrated that the police report about her arrest was put online by the city with her name unredacted.
“It says that I both charged at and ran from officers, neither of which is true” Scott said.
Scott said she knew the lawsuit would either be settled, go to trial or be dismissed, and she wasn’t tied to any one outcome, but that this was her chance to “tell the entire story.”
“It’s not the story that the police have pieced together,” Scott said. “It’s not the story that the media have pieced together. It’s not the story that people on social media have led themselves to believe. But that’s what I needed for myself, was to have a venue where I could say this was my intent, this is what I did, this is what I didn’t do, this is what I saw happening that night.”
More than four years after her arrest and two police chiefs later, Scott said there’s been a positive shift in the department with Chief Patti Jackson, whom she said is doing more to have officers interact with the community in and out of uniform. She stressed that criticism of law enforcement shouldn’t be mistaken for total opposition, and she described how she thinks the community and the Police Department need shared standards, nuance and compromise to build a better relationship.
“I still think that the police are a needed asset in the community,” Scott said. “I just — as somebody who really cares about Tacoma, and then I care about the well being of people — I hold everybody, not just our officers or our police chief, but I hold myself and my colleagues to the highest standard.”
Judge summarizes council member’s arrest
A police officer told Scott to disperse from the scene at about 9:31 p.m., body-camera footage showed, about four hours after former Officer Khanh Phan, while trying to disperse an illegal street-racing event, hit five people with a patrol car and ran over a sixth. A man was later convicted of unlawful imprisonment for inciting a crowd to surround Phan’s vehicle.
Scott said she went downtown to bear witness to the subsequent police investigation. There were concerns Tacoma police were trying to cover for Phan, according to Scott, and her intent was to see if the police were waiting for the Pierce County Force Investigation Team to arrive. That team investigates police uses of deadly force.
Officers did wait for PCFIT to arrive, and Scott said she wanted to bring that information back to “the community.” At the time, Scott was better known as the co-founder of the Tacoma Action Collective, which she said is a platform to keep people apprised on social media of what is happening in the community. The group became known for being critical of law enforcement, particularly in the killing of Manuel Ellis, who died in Tacoma police custody in 2020.
In Cartwright’s summary of that night, she cited Capt. Patrick Patterson’s sworn declaration when describing why police expanded the investigation scene. Patterson said the area was meant to not only include the scene containing physical evidence, but also an area to allow investigators to move and work without interference. He said the scene would still permit the public to observe PCFIT’s investigation.
Two police officers, Smith and Patterson, approached the group Scott was with twice to ask them to move, according to Cartwright. After the group refused the first time, the police made a second announcement over a loudspeaker to clear Pacific Avenue.
The group Scott was with didn’t move, and as Smith approached again, body-camera footage showed Scott was standing farthest into the street and filming in the officer’s direction. Smith touched Scott’s arm, Cartwright said, to guide her in the direction of Commerce Street, but she resisted verbally.
Cartwright said Scott began to step back toward the curb, but within 10 seconds she stepped back into Pacific Avenue and behind Smith, who warned her a second time that she would be arrested if she didn’t disperse.
Scott continued walking into the street, Cartwright said, to film the arrest of another observer. Smith reached for Scott, and she pulled away. At that point, Smith said “she’s under arrest.” Scott moved toward the curb, and Cartrwright said Smith pulled Scott to the ground, where she was arrested while yelling for police to get off her. Cartwright said the video did not show any officers putting their weight on Scott’s back or neck.
