When a Tacoma cop barreled his SUV through a crowd, public trust took another hit
For the second time in less than a year, the national spotlight focused its intense glare on Tacoma — for all the wrong reasons.
In June, it was the death of Manuel Ellis while in police custody that brought protesters into the street and national media outlets like The New York Times to town.
Late Saturday night, it was video of a Tacoma police officer plowing his cruiser through a swarm of people — and up and over at least one person — that earned the City of Destiny national headlines.
In many ways, the two stories are vastly different. The death of Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, provided yet another flashpoint in the larger national reckoning on police brutality and the disproportionate use of force against people of color, particularly after the Pierce County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide.
The unsettling events that transpired on Saturday, meanwhile, bewilder the senses and common sense. How a large mob could take over 9th Avenue and Pacific — and, more importantly, how a trained officer of the law behind the wheel of a 4,000-pound SUV could make the decision to hit the gas and barrel through them — feels inexplicable, even in the most generous light.
One key commonality, however, should not be overlooked: In a city where the trust between law enforcement and the community has been painfully frayed, both events undermine efforts to restore it while also underscoring the urgent need to do so.
As City Manager Elizabeth Pauli told The News Tribune, any police use of deadly force — and driving a police cruiser through a crowd of people certainly qualifies — makes that task more difficult.
“We’re going to be on higher level scrutiny than ever,” Pauli told The News Tribune’s Allison Needles on Sunday afternoon.
Rightly so. While there are still facts to gather and stories to hear, Tacoma’s police force once again finds itself having to answer for itself and explain why things went terribly wrong.
The videos are hard to watch. The chaotic scene that played out Saturday night as authorities attempted to disperse a large crowd of street racers is complicated.
But there’s little doubt what happened certainly isn’t what’s supposed to happen, and for Tacoma police, it’s a pattern that demands answers.
The city deserves it, and quite simply, its residents deserve better.
While sending his thoughts to those who were injured during Saturday night’s tumult — which could have easily been so much worse — interim Tacoma Police Chief Mike Ake alluded to the toll that the incident will take on the city’s ongoing effort to earn the public’s trust.
It’s work that just got much more difficult, as the destructive protests that erupted Sunday night — which appeared to attract groups and individuals from across the region — only confirm.
“I am concerned that our department is experiencing another use of deadly force incident,” Ake said by way of an official statement.
The interim chief added that he is “committed to our Department’s full cooperation in the independent investigation and to assess the actions of the department’s response during the incident.”
With the officer quickly placed on paid administrative leave and the case handed over to the Pierce County Force Investigation Team, that’s where the situation stands. Filling in the details of precisely what took place now becomes the top priority.
Hopefully, in the coming days and weeks a clearer picture begins to emerge.
What is a police officer supposed to do in such a situation, and assuming the answer isn’t drive over the crowd, why didn’t that happen? How did such a large group of people converge downtown, and what contributed to the situation escalating the way that it did? Being part of a street racing flash mob shouldn’t get you run over by the cops, but why was the throng emboldened to the point that people’s lives were put in danger?
Most importantly, while law enforcement officers are people too, we ask more from those who pledge to serve and protect for a reason, fair or not. When they fail in that duty, we’re right to hold them accountable. Could better training have helped? Or is there more to it? Did the officer simply panic? When police feel scared or threatened, does it really justify an outcome like this?
As Tacoma has sought to transform its police force in recent years, they’re all questions that have arisen time and time again, typically in response to tragedy. This time, they come in response to a near tragedy.
Saturday night reminded us, once again, how much work remains to be done.
This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 2:51 PM.
