3 life-or-death minutes for Said Joquin emerge in new fatal police shooting document
In less than three minutes, Said Joquin went from being a cooperative subject in a traffic stop to another Black man fatally shot by police.
The 26-year-old was killed in Lakewood on May 1, 2020. In the last year, Joquin’s name has been regularly invoked during protests against racial inequality and police brutality throughout Pierce County.
The city recently released more than 1,000 pages of investigative documents, transcripts and computer-aided dispatch logs to The News Tribune that give a more detailed picture of what happened the day Joquin died.
Michael Wiley, the officer who shot Joquin three times, was placed on administrative leave. He has since returned to duty and an internal review found the shooting to be within policy, Lakewood police Lt. Chris Lawler said.
Pierce County prosecutors are reviewing the case and will decide whether Wiley was justified in his actions or if he should face criminal charges.
Joquin’s mother and sister have filed a $25 million wrongful death lawsuit, which alleges Wiley is “an unnecessarily aggressive officer with a history of previously improperly and unnecessarily escalating an encounter with a young unarmed African-American man into the unjustified use of deadly force.”
A TRAFFIC STOP
It was about 3 p.m. Friday and Joquin was driving his long-term girlfriend’s 1997 Ford Thunderbird. His friend, Angel Vargas, was in the passenger seat.
Wiley and officer Zachary Schueller had just finished a call and were heading back to the police station in separate patrol cars.
Joquin allegedly ran a stop sign at Whitman Avenue Southwest and Steilacoom Boulevard Southwest, forcing Wiley to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting Joquin’s Thunderbird.
The officer turned on his emergency lights and motioned for Joquin to pull over.
After parking directly behind the Thunderbird, Wiley said he saw Joquin and Vargas move toward the center console and nervously glance back at him. He approached the car and asked Joquin for his driver’s license. Joquin handed over an identification card and told him the vehicle belonged to his girlfriend.
Schueller approached the Thunderbird on the passenger side and started talking to Vargas.
A microphone he wore on his uniform captured some of what was said between the four men.
Wiley told investigators he spotted a gun on the driver’s side floorboard and mouthed the word “gun” over the roof to Schueller. He then told Joquin that he could see a weapon.
“If you reach for anything, alright, you will be shot. Do you understand? Put your hands on your head,” Wiley told Joquin, according to a transcription of Schueller’s microphone.
Both Joquin and Vargas put their hands on their head. Police requested backup and told dispatchers the men were complying with orders.
“Keep your hands on your head. You’re gonna get shot, dude,” Wiley said, according to police reports.
Schueller told Wiley he couldn’t see the gun and asked where it was.
Three seconds passed, according to the records. Four gunshots followed.
The CAD logs show the shooting unfolded that quickly. First came the initial traffic stop. Two minutes later, Wiley spotted the gun and Schueller radioed dispatchers that both men in the car were being compliant. Schueller asked Wiley where the gun was.
Three seconds later, Wiley fired four shots at Joquin from about three feet away.
After he’d been shot, Joquin screamed, “Get away!” according to the transcript.
Officers could be heard discussing how to treat him. One said he couldn’t feel a pulse.
Joquin was pronounced dead at Tacoma General Hospital.
He was shot three times — in the chest, abdomen and arm, records say.
“Dr. (Timothy) Williams indicated that it appeared that the left arm was down near the abdomen when the shots were fired,” according to a police report.
Nothing in the autopsy report indicated how Joquin’s body was positioned when he was shot.
Investigators said they found a handgun on the driver’s side floorboard.
OUTSIDE INVESTIGATION
The Cooperative Cities Crime Response Unit investigated the shooting. The team consists of law enforcement officers throughout Pierce County. In this case, officers from Bonney Lake, Fife, Milton, Puyallup, Sumner and the Washington State Patrol took over.
Investigators did not interview Wiley and Schueller. Instead, both officers provided written statements and answered follow-up questions via email. That is becoming standard practice, a team captain said.
Wiley said Joquin was talking fast and appeared nervous after officers warned him not to reach for the gun.
“A few seconds later I saw the driver suddenly and quickly removed his hands from his head and reach down with his right hand towards the handgun,” Wiley wrote in his seven-page statement dated May 7, 2020. “The driver had been ordered to keep his hands up. He had been warned about moving or reaching the handgun. Nevertheless, he began making a direct and conscious grab at the handgun that was between his feet. At that point, I knew the driver refused to obey my clear orders. I knew the handgun was within easy reach.”
Wiley said Joquin had been looking for an escape route, appeared nervous and told officers he found the gun rather than bought it.
“Given the quickness and the unexpected lunge by the driver for the handgun, I felt I had no other choice than to fire my pistol at the driver in order to stop the threat he posed and protect myself and Officer Schueller,” according to his statement.
Vargas, the passenger, told investigators he didn’t see what happened but did not believe Joquin should have been shot.
Schueller provided a three-page statement May 8, 2020, saying he didn’t directly witness the shooting.
“I observed the male driver make a quick movement out of my peripherals and his hands moved from the up position towards his knees,” he wrote. “I recall hearing shots fired. It appeared to me that Officer Wiley fired until it appeared there was no longer a threat to his safety or mine.”
LEGAL REVIEW AHEAD
Investigators presented their findings March 8. Prosecutors said it usually takes six months to review the case.
Investigators ignored the rules of Initiative 940, now known as Law Enforcement Training and Community Safety Act, and are “improperly working to justify the wrongful shooting,” Jack Connelly, the attorney representing Joquin’s family, wrote in the lawsuit.
LETCSA, which went into effect January 2020, requires independent investigations after a law enforcement officer kills or injures someone.
An investigation by the Washington State Attorney General’s Office in February found only 28 percent of agencies statewide fully complied with the new law.
In Joquin’s case, state officials say the Cooperative Cities Crime Response Unit did not comply in five areas.
They only used one community representative, that person did not participate in case briefings or review equipment from the agency, team members did not sign confidentiality releases and the team did not give notice to Joquin’s family or the community representative before releasing information about the case.
This story was originally published August 29, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
