Family to sue Lakewood for $26M, citing unlawful police pursuit in fatal crash
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Family files $26M wrongful-death claim alleging unlawful Lakewood pursuit
- Attorneys say officers chased teen without required certification or oversight
- Claim argues safer alternatives existed and criticizes supervisory failures
A Lakewood police pursuit of robbery suspects that ended with a collision that killed a semi-truck driver, a father of seven, violated state law and police department policies, attorneys for the family of the deceased truck driver claim.
The family of Bohdan Vetrov filed a $26 million wrongful-death claim against the City of Lakewood on Monday. Filing a legal claim is a required precursor to lawsuits against the government in Washington. After 60 days the family can bring a lawsuit.
Attorneys Mark Lindquist and Angus Lee allege the police officers who initiated the pursuit didn’t assess the risks of chasing the 16-year-old robbery suspects and didn’t contact their supervising sergeant before giving chase.
Two of the police officers, identified in the claim as Cole Craner and Officer Urckfitz, were not certified in any pursuit-intervention option, according to a copy of the claim. Certification was a mandatory condition to pursue vehicles under police department policy and state law, RCW 10.116.060.
“If police follow the rules and use common sense, they can catch the bad guys without endangering the public,” Lindquist said in a statement issued Tuesday.
Lindquist is the former elected prosecutor for Pierce County who operates a private-practice law firm. He has represented families of victims of aviation disasters and last year secured a nearly $15 million settlement from Tacoma for a restaurant owner paralyzed in a shooting.
The Lakewood Police Department declined to comment on the wrongful-death claim.
Lindquist said Vetrov legally immigrated to the United States from Ukraine in 2017 with his wife and children to seek a safer and more prosperous life. Vetrov, 57, worked fulltime as a commercial truck driver, and Lindquist said his family has struggled financially and emotionally without him.
Police officers’ plan led to ‘highly dangerous’ chase
The fatal collision on June 29, 2023 occurred hours after a 7-Eleven at 3115 6th Ave. was robbed at gunpoint in the early hours of the morning. The store’s owner previously told The News Tribune that five people wearing masks entered and pointed their weapons at a cashier and a customer. The robbers left the store with cash and tobacco products.
Craner was on duty that night, heard about the robbery and believed he knew a juvenile suspect’s identity and address, according to the wrongful-death claim. Attorneys for Vetrov’s family allege Craner and Officer Urckfitz devised a plan that led to a “highly dangerous and unnecessary chase.”
The officers positioned themselves near the teenager’s home, according to the claim, and, when they saw him driving nearby, they began trailing him. Attorneys claim the teen was driving safely at that point and obeying traffic laws in a residential neighborhood.
Craner activated the overhead lights of his vehicle, and the teen tried to speed away. The pursuit entered the intersection of Freedom Way and Interstate 5, where a dash camera on Craner’s vehicle showed a red traffic light and a semi-truck crossing in front of him.
“Defendant Craner nonetheless continued to chase the juvenile-driven vehicle,” the claim states. “This resulted in the juvenile running a red light and proceeding on a collision course with the semi-truck being driven at a safe speed by Mr. Vetrov.”
The impact of the collision ejected Vetrov from his vehicle, according to court records, sending him over the overpass and onto Interstate 5. Responding officers reportedly pulled him to safety and began measures to try to save his life, but he wasn’t breathing. Vetrov was transported to Madigan Army Medical Center, where he died of his injuries.
The 16-year-old boys who collided with Vetrov were in a Kia Sportage that had been reported stolen from a carjacking in Fife, court records state. Both were taken to a hospital and survived the wreck. Prosecutors later filed criminal charges against the driver and passenger.
The driver pleaded guilty in March 2024 in Pierce County Juvenile Court to vehicular homicide and unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle. He was sentenced in June that year to a standard-range sentence of 15-36 weeks in juvenile rehabilitation. He was also ordered to pay $47,703.95 in restitution to the Department of Labor & Industries.
The passenger’s criminal case was sealed, according to Adam Faber, a spokesperson for the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, so it’s unclear what the outcome of his case was. Faber said the charges against him were less serious.
Safer alternatives existed, attorneys argue
The wrongful-death claim also alleges that Craner and Urckfitz’s supervisor, Sgt. Mark Eakes, did not oversee the pursuit as required by state law and department policy. He allegedly was not in radio contact with Craner to authorize, monitor or direct the pursuit and didn’t participate in any required risk assessment.
Attorneys for Vetrov’s family argued in the claim that there were safer alternatives to the pursuit, noting that the convenience-store robbery occurred five hours prior and there was no continuing threat to public safety. The attorneys said police could have watched the robbery suspect from a distance and either boxed him in when he parked or waited for him to exit the vehicle so officers could approach him on foot.
Had the suspect attempted to leave the area again, the attorneys said, officers could have coordinated to deploy spike strips at a location and time that didn’t pose a danger to others. The neighborhood the suspect was in had only two entrance and exit points, according to the claim, which the attorneys said made it particularly suitable for containment.
“This case is about accountability and public safety,” Lee said in the Tuesday statement. “A pursuit that ends with an innocent truck driver killed is not policing — it’s a preventable failure.”
