Lakewood police fatally shot man in traffic stop because he lowered his arms, investigators say
Investigators on Thursday released details about what led a Lakewood police officer to fatally shoot a man during a traffic stop earlier this month.
Said Joquin, 26, was pulled over May 1 after allegedly running a stop sign at Whitman Avenue Southwest and Steilacoom Boulevard Southwest.
A Lakewood officer had to brake to avoid hitting Joquin’s vehicle.
That officer and another traveling in a different direction pulled over Joquin in the 6400 block of Steilacoom Boulevard.
As police approached the car, officer Mike Wiley said he noticed a gun on the driver’s side floorboard.
The officers requested backup and ordered Joquin and his passenger to keep their hands up.
“However, a few minutes into the incident, the driver lowered his arms, causing the primary officer to believe the subject was reaching for the firearm,” according to a statement by investigators.
Wiley fired several times, striking Joquin.
Joquin was taken to a local hospital, where he died.
The passenger was not injured.
A gun was recovered from Joquin’s vehicle, investigators said.
The Cooperative Cities Crime Response Unit is continuing its investigation, which will be turned over to the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office within weeks.
Wiley remains on paid administrative leave, which is standard after an officer-involved shooting.
He has been a law enforcement officer for 18 years.
This is at least the second officer-involved shooting he has been involved with since joining the Lakewood Police Department in October 2004.
Wiley was one of three officers named in a wrongful death suit in the 2013 death of a Fife man, who was killed by a sniper while clutching his 4-year-old son in a SWAT standoff.
A jury in U.S. District Court found police committed 14 civil rights violations that night, including excessive force.
Wiley’s actions in the standoff, which included leading an assault team that blew down the back door of the home and killing the family dog, were singled out in the ruling as being particularly egregious and leading to the Fife man’s unnecessary death.
The man’s family was awarded $12.5 million to settle the suit.
This story was originally published May 21, 2020 at 2:41 PM.
