Hey, this is Val. That was my best impression of Luke. And now I'll do my best impression of Aaron Sellers because this week Aaron Hedge and I flew solo on the radio and even learned how to use the KYRS soundboard. We talked about our coverage this week that included police accountability from a lot of different angles. In the first story, we talked about a sister's ongoing quest for transparency from the Spokane County prosecutor on a police shooting that killed her brother. And how now failed legislation could have helped provide another avenue for that transparency. Then we chatted about this week's wild Spokane Valley City Council meeting where the council simultaneously said they wanted their police to help federal immigration deportation efforts, and they wanted to put a sales tax on the ballot to pay for more police. All that and more in this week's free range. I'm Valerie oer. I'm with Range, and I'm here with Aaron Hedge, who is also with Range, and we, how's it going? Are flying solo today? We just got trained by Dana, our brilliant station. Guru guy. I don't, I don't know what your job title is, but we just got trained on the board and now we know how to use it, which is very exciting. Theoretically, we know how to use it, but I feel very powerful. Yeah. So, Aaron Sellers is out today dealing with some washing machine stuff and new homeowner stuff. New homeowner stuff. They're, they're 25. Mm-hmm. They bought a house. We're so proud of them. Yes, they're little Aaron growing up. So today we're gonna talk about head hedges latest story and then another story in Spokane Valley that kind of popped off on Tuesday night. So let's get started on the first one. We published it I don't even remember now. We published the story. Yeah, it was last night, last. This week's. Oh yeah, that was yesterday. Whoops. Okay. Yeah. So this story hedge was working on it for a while about a man who was killed by Spokane County Sheriff's deputies and how his sister is, going through this process, the grieving process, and looking for answers of what happened when he was killed and hedge. What, first, let's start, like what brought this story to your attention? So in around the turn of the year in January, I was doing my, my first big story this year was about the city Ombuds and how, and, and, and a report that they gave that that showed that some folks in that there were some, some agencies within real investigative. Sorry, real quick, what's the Ombuds thing? Sorry? The Ombuds? Mm-hmm. So the, the Office of the Ombuds mm-hmm. The Office of Police Ombuds is the, is the title is basically it's a, it's a commission within the city of Spokane that it kind of, it acts as like a bridge between communicating information about just police accountability. Mm-hmm. And, and they issue a report to a public body that's appointed by the, by the city council. Mm-hmm. Called the Ombuds Commission. Okay. And the idea is that they, they bring information that wouldn't otherwise be disclosed to the public mm-hmm. Out into the open. There's lots of restrictions around that. And they're, they, they. S they sit on a number of the internal bodies mm-hmm. Of the Spokane Police Department. And their representatives bring what information they can mm-hmm. And that information is negotiated with the with the the police union. Mm-hmm. To, to the commission. And then it becomes a public document and they, they present it to the commission at a public meeting and Okay. Idea. Is that, so it's, it's a method of police accountability basically, or a sort of a layer of police accountability for the city? Yeah. It's just like, well, I, I would say more like transparency. Oh, okay. They don't have any, any authority to to ask for prosecutions or investigations or anything like that. I see. But they just bring information that normally wouldn't make it. Mm-hmm. Like without the ombuds, that wouldn't make it into the public's eye, into Okay. The light, basically. And while I was reporting on that, I met a lot of police accountability activists. Mm-hmm. And, and, and tho those, those people included a number of family members mm-hmm. Of past victims of police violence in sp in the city of Spokane and in the county. And one of those people was a woman named Don Hale whose brother Donald had about a year ago. A year ago, last weekend. Mm-hmm. Had been in a standoff with with a SWAT team. Mm-hmm. With the count, with the county sheriff's office. And he was. They, they were trying to execute a, a warrant mm-hmm. That was issued by Stevens County. Mm-hmm. And this happened in, in Deer Park. So it happened in Stevens County. Mm-hmm. The Stevens County Sheriff requested help from Spokane County Sheriff. Mm-hmm. And that's why Spokane County was, was there but he wasn't cooperating. Mm-hmm. He wouldn't come out of the house. He, they, they were there for several hours. I think it was about four hours. And eventually they they wanted to get him out. Mm-hmm. And so, and he was refusing, and they, they knew that he had an object that was shaped like a gun. They knew that it was either, it was either a gun or it was a cigarette lighter. Mm-hmm. It was a cigarette lighter. And they fired they, they, they fired chemical gases into the house and that, that didn't bring him out. They fired a flash bang grenade into the house. Mm-hmm. That also did not bring him out. Mm-hmm. And so several. Several deputies with the SWAT team mm-hmm. Entered the house and three of them shot shot rounds at him. And they, they those are, those are fatal gun wounds. And then they sent a, a dog in to make contact with him. They weren't sure if he was alive or not. Mm-hmm. And there was just a lot of and, and Don Don was on the scene for all of this. Mm-hmm. His sister. Yeah. His sister was, was there and afterwards she went into that a, after they released the scene mm-hmm. There was, there was a long investigation that, that lasted the entire night. And the next morning after they released the scene, she went into the house and started picking up things that she thought the police should have picked up. Mm-hmm. Including as evidence. Right. Yeah. She saw it as evidence. Mm-hmm. There was a, there was a, a bullet shell casing that. They hadn't been able to find that was in a laundry basket. Mm-hmm. There was, there were several pieces of Donald's skull on mm-hmm. On, on the floor. It was a really gruesome scene and mm-hmm. And she obviously was traumatized by it. Mm-hmm. But she also, like, she, she saw a lot of this, this left behind evidence as a sign of like an incomplete investigation. Mm-hmm. And we didn't wanna weigh in on any of that. Mm-hmm. But in the aftermath of all of this she, she, she was trying to do her own kind of citizen's investigation mm-hmm. Of the case to figure out, she, she wants to know what really happened to her brother. Mm-hmm. And in November the. Independent investigative body that investigated the scene, turned their results mm-hmm. Over to the, the county prosecutor, Larry Haskell. Mm-hmm. And he issued a, actually, I think they turned that over in October. Mm-hmm. And he issued a decision in in November saying that the, the killing was justified. Larry Haskell is famous for never having found police killing unjustified. He's never prosecuted a police killing. Which is an interesting fact in the context of Spokane being one of the most violent Yeah. Police forces or environments in, in the entire country. It's ranked number three in police departments nationwide. Mm-hmm. And that's, that's when Don's like interactions with the county became mm-hmm. Just like, I mean, from, from her perspective, just. She felt the county wasn't being forthcoming about the information. Mm-hmm. She asked to see the body cam footage and sheriff John Knowles said that she could come to his office and watch it. Mm-hmm. With him, she couldn't bring anybody with her. And she didn't, she didn't like that setup. Mm-hmm. So she mm-hmm. She declined to do that. And, but her main, her main efforts had been trying to get mm-hmm. The, the county prosecutor Larry Haskell to, to talk to her, just to sit down with her and have a conversation about like how he came to the conclusions that he came to. And he, there's a report Yeah. That, that he issued that explains his rationale. But she just, she wants to hear it from him. She wants to like, sit down with him mm-hmm. And, and look in the eye. And he has, sorry, real quick. So we have, a grieving sister mm-hmm. Who's lost her brother, her brother was in trouble and he was facing a charge for a pretty heinous crime. And but the, I guess the fact of the matter is that when they were trying to get him to come in on his warrant, at some point in time they decided to go into that trailer house and open fire and. Whether or not it would actually bring him in alive. And so I always this story was really interesting to edit because, we're like, it, it's brought up a lot of complicated feelings about like who gets sympathy, in our society. And if you read the story, you'll see, the charge it was for the warrant was for a child sexual assault. But the fact is also that everybody has the right to a trial. And to, he was not convicted yet of that. So I, I wanna bring that to the forefront because it's it was a big topic in our newsroom yesterday, when we're editing and getting the story up was like, how do we. Present this story, like how, how do we present this story with all the facts, but, and not shy away from the scary and bad facts too. And so I kinda wanna ask you hedge, like, before we get more deeper into the, like, legislation and things like that, that this story ties to when Don approached you, like how did she approach you, I guess, about this story? Well, she she did, I approached her. Okay. She, she was, she was at a, she was at a, I, I met her at a protest. Um mm-hmm. That was, that kind of stemmed from another person's loved one having been killed mm-hmm. By Spokane Police, and it's a pretty tight knit community. Mm-hmm. They, they hold regular protests on the day of the month that their loved one was killed. Mm-hmm. So, so Don holds one for Donald on the 29th of every month that he was, he was killed on March 29th, 2024. And. There, there's another person who has been a police accountability activist for a long time mm-hmm. In Spokane. Her name is Debbie Novak. Her son David was killed by Spokane Police in 2019. Mm-hmm. I, I believe that protest takes place on the seventh of the month, but I would need to check my notes. But she Don was at Debbie's, the, the protest for, for Debbie's son. Mm-hmm. And they, they go to each other's protests. Yeah. There's a lot of solidarity. Mm-hmm. And I, I, I, I learned a little bit about Donald's case that day. Mm-hmm. And I went back and after I wrote my first story, I, I, I read more about it and I mm-hmm. I became interested and so I went to, to a, a a subsequent protest. Mm-hmm. One, one for Donald. Mm-hmm. And interviewed Dawn about it, and she, she kind of like laid out all of like, just her experiences with the Spokane County Prosecutor's Office. And yeah, it was just like, it was really, it was really striking that, that she was pouring all this energy into, into trying to like, just find some clarity about what happened to her brother. She also wants justice but I just found it to be a really compelling story. Yeah. And so, so I went, I guess, I guess I went to her. She didn't approach me about it. She's, she's, she's a pretty quiet woman. Mm-hmm. She's, she's not very like. She, she lives in Ford and she runs a, a couple of small businesses with her husband. Mm-hmm. She's she's just a regular person. Yeah. And she never thought that she was gonna have to do something like this. Yeah. And that's why the story kind of resonated with me, I guess. Mm-hmm. And I I appreciated how the story tied in with, some legislation at Washington State legislation that is dead now and did not pass. But can you tell me a little bit about, I think there was four pieces of legislation mm-hmm. That would would have provided possibly a, another avenue for Dawn to go down to get some clarity on this. But other than prosecutor Larry Haskell, right. Yeah, so probably need to like yeah, sorry. We might have to No, no, it's like, yeah, there's a lot of like complicated like context to this. So there was, there was a lot of police accountability, uh mm-hmm. Rules that were set in in 20 21, 20 20 19 in 2021. Mm-hmm. It was, those were like watershed years for police accountability in Washington. And they, they made a, like the ACT activists who are pushing for police accountability made a lot of progress during those years. Mm-hmm. And one of the most significant things that that, that kind of like, like slate of legislation did, was it, it, it created this thing at the state level called the Office of Independent Investigations. Mm-hmm. And that was basically a body that could take, deadly uses of force by police in any agency in Washington. And they can assign, they, they can assign an, an investigator to go look into that case mm-hmm. And figure out and make a determination whether it needs to be prosecuted. This, this was a really, like, important step. Mm-hmm. But it didn't, it didn't, it didn't get to the place where a lot of police accountabilities mm-hmm. Think it should, because when they issue a recommendation about whether a case should be prosecuted mm-hmm. It goes through a process. I think it hits the ags office, but eventually it ends up in the hands of the local prosecutor. So any, any investigation mm-hmm. Of deadly use of force in Spokane County would come back to Larry Haskell. Right. Who again, has never found Right. A case worth prosecuting. And so it's, it's likely that, like. That would, it would just go in this big mm-hmm. Loop and just end up right back where it started. Yeah. And nothing would happen because the statewide office does not have the authority to prosecute. Correct. It has the authority to investigate. Yes. And so, so the, the piece of the law that, or the the bill that I was interested in mm-hmm. Is it, it would create a, another body not, not tangential, but just like adjacent to the Office of Independent Investigations called the Office of Independent Prosecutions. Hmm. And that office would be able to do its own prosecution. It would employ lawyers who could, who could go in and, and li litigate a case if they felt that it, it warranted it. Mm-hmm. And I was trying to figure out, like, I really wanted to write about, dawn's kind of like saga. Mm-hmm. But I couldn't figure out a way to do it. But when this, when this legislation died and died in February I, I felt like that was, I mean, that, that's the thing that she wants. Mm-hmm. She wants this other avenue where she can like, try to figure out what happened to her brother and if necessary, bring him. Mm-hmm. Bring him some justice. Has she has she ever tried to get the Office of Independent Investigations in into this case? I, I know that they've only done like two or three cases since they started, but yeah. So that office is it's, it's in a, it is still in a really primitive state. Mm-hmm. It was, it was formed in 2021. And it's, it's, it's really building some it's, it's building up. It's, it's, it is in the middle of it's first two investigations. Those are both on the west side. Mm-hmm. And it's, and it's looking, it's doing preliminary investigations into several other cases, and one of them is in Spokane County. It's dated Nova David Novak's case. I don't know, I, I, I don't know the answer to that question. I don't if Don has reached out to the Office of Independent Investigations but they, they could investigate Yeah. Donald's case. Right. But then they would never be able to prosecute. No, they wouldn't. But I mean, in Don's case, like she doesn't, I don't know if she's necessarily looking for a prosecution, she wants answers. Is is that accurate or, or not? Yeah. No, no. I mean, yeah. I think that's the first thing she wants. Yeah. She wants answers. Mm-hmm. And she, she doesn't, she doesn't wanna see anyone prosecuted if mm-hmm. If the, if the facts don't, don't lead to it. Right. Or don't warrant a prosecution, but mm-hmm. She, she, she wants the answers. Mm-hmm. And the office of Independent. Investigations could ostensibly provide mm-hmm. Some of those answers. Yeah. But if it, if it reasoned that mm-hmm. The, the case needed to be prosecuted and that the shooting was not mm-hmm. Justified the case would come Right, right back to Larry Haskell. That would be an interesting, I'm really curious about what happens in the Novak case, because yeah, it would just be a test of this new system. Yeah. Or office. And you, you might not know the answer to this question but it just occurred to me, do you know why in the legislation for the Office of Independent Investigations, why they didn't also include an office of prosecution or prosecution in that? Because I feel like those kind of go together. But they separated them well. I mean there, there was, there was legislation that, that year in 2021 that would've created an officer. Oh, so there was like a twin legis legislation situation? Yeah. So the so there's been an independent prosecutor proposed for the last four legislative sessions. Wow. And has died each time for different, for different reasons. And they're a little bit in the weeds, like, in, in previous proposals it didn't really have a home because attorney then Attorney General Ferguson felt like it would be a conflict of interest for for the office to be housed within the department of, or the the, the ags office and oh, and. At the same time. So, so, so it, it would've had to have been created under, under the office of the governor. Okay. And at the same time former gov Governor Insley felt the same way, that it would've been a conflict of interest for it to be housed under the governor's office. So they, that that was one of the things that, that kind of like stopped it from happening. There's also, there's also like, and I've reported on this a little bit in other contexts mm-hmm. But there were also like pretty heavy fiscal notes attached mm-hmm. To, to these bills. Agencies said that they would cost a lot of money. Mm-hmm. They've whittled that, that down a lot. Like the, the people proposing the writing, the legislation, the groups mm-hmm. Have like tried to lessen the costs and they, they've done it. I think, I think in previous years it would've, the fiscal notes were, were for like $9 million. This year it was for $3.5 million, which is a pretty dramatic reduction. But. So, so this year it died in February because now legislators are even more hawkish mm-hmm. About the, the budget and there's all kinds of stuff happening with the budget right now. Mm-hmm. The de like different groups of Democrats have proposals to increased taxes on wealthy people in Washington. Mm-hmm. But they're fighting about it. Right. And, and they don't, like, there isn't really a clear path out of Washington's really dire budget situation. Right. There's $12 million hole in the budget by some estimates. I mean, there's a way out, but they don't wanna take it. Yeah. Well, I mean, nobody, nobody feels like, the proposals that exist are Right. Are the correct ones. So. So these, these bills are dying mm-hmm. In the context of lawmakers not wanting to spend Right. More money. And then on the flip side, we have a bill that's still sailing through legislation right now. You can people are still able to speak out for, against it and contact their legislators. Which bill is that? It's like HB 2015, right? That's right. Yeah. So there's, there's a little bit of irony here. Mm-hmm. There's, there's a bill and, and Governor Ferguson now Governor Ferguson campaigned on this. He said that he was gonna be able to establish a fund mm-hmm. Of a hundred million dollars at the state, just a grant fund for local governments to hire new police. And that original proposal was was. Kind of like couched in, in a bill called an SB 50 60. Mm-hmm. And it, that, that one, that bill died. Mm-hmm. But then they, they created a new bill legislators in the house, created a, a new bill that, that establishes a much smaller fund. Mm-hmm. It's, it's around $15 million between now and 20 30, 20 31, I think. Mm-hmm. But it also allows local, it, it creates like special provisions for local governments to create sales taxes, to hire new police. So just to be clear and I don't think we like hashed it out in the story, but this bill, which is 2015, right? Yes. Okay. This one, is it actually allocating that $15 million or is it just saying we can provide up or up to $15 million can be. Created by a new sales tax or whatever, local sales taxes. Like, how does that work out? No, the 15, yeah, the $15 million would be established in a, in a, oh, in a grant fund from the states. Oh. So, and it's a lot less than the, than the 100 million that, that Governor Ferguson campaigned on. I see. And in addition to that, it allows okay. It allows local governments to, so in the context, sorry. It's allowed the whole local governments to do a sales tax, right. To pro, yeah. Propose new taxes. Yeah. In the context of the budget deficit, where is this 15 million coming from? It, I mean, the, the lawmakers are gonna have to allocate it in the budget. I don't know exactly. Yeah. Sorry. I'm like putting you in the hot seat. I don't know. Well, it, that's all in flux right now. Yeah, because they're, they're, they're crafting their budget proposals right now. Okay. And, and they're, they're debating them. And it's still not clear whether this, this bill will pass and be signed. Mm-hmm. But it's looking pretty good. It's sailing through committees. Yeah. I think it was, I think it had a hearing in the Ways and Means committee in the Senate. Right. So, and that's like the last stop before it gets signed, I think. Right. Or before it gets debated on the floor of the Senate. Yeah. And it'll, I, I mean, I think that, I think that most lawmakers that I've spoke to seem pretty helpful for it. They, they think it's gonna pass. So on the one hand we have these pieces of accountability legislation. Mm-hmm. And we should be clear, I, I spoke with Governor Ferguson's. Mm-hmm. PIO, and she told me that Governor First Ferguson also supported the accountability legislation. Mm-hmm. But those bills died because mm-hmm. The state didn't have enough money to pay for them, and this other funding bill is probably gonna, it, it seems like it's, it's doing well right now. I, I don't wanna predict whether it's gonna be signed and become law, but mm-hmm. It, it's, it's, it's doing a lot better than the other bills. Yeah. I, it's interesting, I I'm interested in what our legislators are saying, to rationalize that thing Well, and, and, and there's nuance to this bill. Mm-hmm. It's, it doesn't, it doesn't just, it doesn't just hire new police officers. It also hires like behavioral health Okay. Professionals and people who aren't necessarily cops to go out and respond to, to bad situations. And every legislator that I, that I talk to mm-hmm. Says that those new positions need to be, need to be hired because police need mm-hmm. It shouldn't, it shouldn't always just be cops going out and responding. That's fair to every mental health crisis. Yeah. It should, it should be. Other professionals too. Aaron Sellers I think last year had did a ride along with the d blanking on the name, but the behavioral, I think it's the BRU, the Yeah. B or the BHU, the Behavioral Health Unit. Something like that. Yeah. Okay. They did a, a ride along with them and, experienced a day of, of, responding to people in mental health crisis mm-hmm. Who were in public and who would've otherwise had a police officer respond to them. And that, that's been a pretty effective program in Spokane. It's just interesting that this legislation and we'd, we'd have to look at it more of just like, what's the ratio of, at adding behavioral health positions to. And cops like, you know what, what's the ratio that this money's providing? And, and it would, it would, it would depend on, on what the cities and counties Oh. And local agencies propose. Interesting. Like it's, they, it's what they want. So right now I see Spokane Valley is trying to create a tax to hire mm-hmm. Specific numbers of different kinds of police. Most of them are patrol officers. Okay. But it just, like, it depends on a, on an analysis of what that local government would need. And that would probably be in a grant application. Okay. That makes sense. So it's not just, here's 15 million to hire more police. It's, these cities and counties have to apply to the state to get a grant to. Hire more police or whatever. That's right. That's interesting. I always find our granting system wild that things aren't just funded. That like cities have to apply for grants. I, I find it interesting. It's a, it's a rigorous process. Yeah. Long process. So back to this, the case of Don Donald Hale. What's the, the biggest key takeaway I guess, that you can, like, that you, that affected you most I, while reporting this? Well, I think there's all this wrangling about, what the state is gonna fund mm-hmm. And what it isn't and what the priorities are and, and are we being fair to police? And I spoke with Debbie Novak for this story, and she told me that eventually it's gonna have to be about not, it's gonna have to not be about the police, it's gonna have to be about the families that are mm-hmm. That are grieving their loved one. That quote was really powerful to me. Yeah. And I think that like, there's, there's all this really complicated stuff happening, happening in a legislature that a lot of people, it's, it's hard to follow. It's hard for me to follow, and I'm a reporter. Like it's my job to follow that stuff. And people like Don Hagel are just like tapping their feet. Mm-hmm. I mean, and sorry, that's probably like, I don't wanna trivialize it, but mm-hmm. Like she doesn't know what's going on. And, and she feels, her case is interesting because she feels like a pretty high level of urgency to figure out what happened to her brother. She's the only person in her family with the wherewithal to investigate this. Mm-hmm. She's in really bad health. She has a heart condition and she's going in for a pretty invasive surgery in, at the end of May she's either going to have a stint placed in her heart. Mm-hmm. And if it's bad enough, they'll do a bypass. She doesn't know if she's gonna have the energy to do this after, after that. She doesn't know what life is gonna be like after that. And so she feels like she needs to figure this out just to know, just so her family can know what happens. Yeah. And. It might not happen. She might not be able to. Yeah. And it's, it's a complicated process to follow. We were digging through court records and, digging through different court records of Spokane County and Stevens County, and they both have different systems. It was a wild scene in the news room yesterday. Aaron Sellers and Val were just like going at all these records. Yeah. And it was just like trying to build a narrative and figured out what happened. Yeah. To, to Donald in the, in the lead up to his, because we were trying to figure out Yeah. And, and we talk about it in the story. Sorry, I'm gonna get all, I wish I had the timeline. I may wrote down. Yeah. About three years prior in 2019 or 2018. It was, it was five. It was five years. Five years prior. It was 2019. Yeah. Right. So 2019 Donald Hale had a standoff with police before this happened. Before. Yeah. Again, they thought he, one of the, one of the same deputies who killed him was involved in that standoff as well. Yes. And so Travis West, they also thought he had a weapon and it also ended up not being a weapon. During that time, and, and they were trying to bring him in on the warrant for the same charge that they were bringing him in for this time. And so, they managed to bring him in, they did smoke grenades and all that stuff. Yep. And they, they brought him in and we were trying to figure out, well, how did he get out of jail if they, how, how did we get from 2019 being in jail to 2024 and dying again at the hands of the police for the same warrant? The same charge? And we, we dug through court records and found out that basically when he was arrested the first time in 2019 for this warrant after his first standoff, yeah. It was a standoff and they brought him in and he was also charged with in relation to that standoff with like. Resisting arrest or something like that. Right. Criminal mischief. Criminal mischief. And he had had, like, he'd gotten into a, a physical fight mm-hmm. With one of the officers. Okay. And he pleaded guilty to that. Right. So he pleaded guilty to those charges in SP and those charges were in Spokane County. So this is how complex the, the court system is because everything is county by county. Mm-hmm. So he pleaded guilty to those charges in Spokane County. He spent like 76 days in jail, something like that. And then he gets transferred to Stevens County and we're like, okay, well where is he at in Stevens County at this point in time? And and then found out, figured out that in about May, 2020, he was able to get bailed out by his sister on a hundred thousand dollars bond. And our biggest question in this is, with the severity of the charge and the fact that he already resisted arrest in the standoff, why was he allowed out on bond? And that's. It, it's something we weren't able to answer, right? No, we didn't. I mean, we didn't figure out the answer to that question. Mm-hmm. But I think, I mean, in Stevens County, so here's, here's how I see it. Mm-hmm. So in, in Spokane County, he he pleaded guilty and he is the trial for his charge of a criminal mischief. Mm-hmm. That stemmed from the standoff. Right. Which was a separate thing from the, the warrant that they were there to arrest him on. Mm-hmm. Which was the sexual assault of a child. Mm-hmm. And he, he served, he served 76 days mm-hmm. In this Spokane County jail. And the judge let him out on time served. Right. Since he pled, I think probably because he pled guilty. Mm-hmm. And after that he was transferred straight to Stevens County. Mm-hmm. And so. They, I mean they, they decided to, to post bond for him for a hundred thousand dollars and he was in custody there for a completely different Right. Crime. But it was for the crime that they went out for him, for the warrant or that he had both police standoffs That's right. Because of, yes. So, and then, and then we're here in 2024 and he's at another, and, and during that time between when he was bonded out and 2024, like there, we were looking at the court records of, continuance here, continuance there trial date set, trial date missed, like things like that were happening. And I think his sister told you like some of the reasons why he wasn't like actually showing up for court and things like that. He, he missed some court dates mm-hmm. Because he, she, she said that he he wasn't able to make the drive to Colville. Mm-hmm. And so. He, I mean, I ge he, he, he missed enough court dates mm-hmm. That they eventually rescinded his bond mm-hmm. And and issued a warrant for his arrest. Mm-hmm. And that's what led us to March 29th, 2024. Right. Which is when he died. Yeah. So, it's just another, not just, but this is another illustration of, how our court system is wonky in those ways. I think I've been, I've been reporting on a lot of stories about mm-hmm. How, the systems that exist, these, like very kind of diffuse mm-hmm. Systems of policing and of mental health and of courts, like, people fall through the cracks. Yeah. Because it's so complicated. And often there are people who just, they're, they're having a rough time with life. Mm-hmm. And, they're not, not like, they're not perfect people and they, like, they have, they have problems. Donald's. His his toxicology report showed methamphetamine and, and alcohol. Oh. I noticed a heart condition too. Yeah. But he, there there's multiple stories mm-hmm. Of police killing people who have been. S repeatedly failed by the systems that exist. Yeah. And you said he only had a sixth grade education. Yes. Is that right? Yeah, that's correct. So, interesting story. We're gonna pivot real or now to our second story, which also has a little bit to do with police funding and, but it's right here in Spokane Valley. Or it's, we're, we're in Spokane, it's right next door to SP in Spokane Valley. There we go. Yeah. Yeah. Our our city to the east. Yes. Mm-hmm. So every Monday range goes through all of the public record, or sorry. Public meetings that are happening in our region. I mean, not every single one, but almost every single one. So we do Spokane City Council, we do Spokane Valley City Council, we do the school boards, things like that. And this Monday we noticed Spokane Valley had on their agenda two important items. And the first is very interesting, can be connected to the second. I think I just thought it was the funniest thing. You're not, you're not the only one. There was a lot of people at the meeting who Yeah. Put the same thing out. I was just like, this is opposite things. It's not funny in like, haha, but funny and like, this is messed up. So the first item, what's, what was the first item? So Spokane Valley is in the middle of a three phase plan to, to. Fully hire like mm-hmm. Like a, a complete police department because they contract with the county, right? Yeah. They, they, so, so the Spokane Valley Police Department is technically under the umbrella of the Spokane County, uh mm-hmm. Sheriff's Office. But they, it is, it is, it is its own entity that, and they, they share resources, they, they share officers but they do have their own dedicated force. Mm-hmm. And for a long time, like the, the. The city. If you, if you talk to any of the city council members in Spokane Valley, they will tell you that between 2008 and basically the start of this program, which hap mm-hmm. Which started last year they didn't hire any new police officers. They didn't Hi. Or they didn't hire any additional police officers. Oh, got it. Okay. Well, that's old police force. And at the same time, the population of Spokane Valley grew a lot. I see. And so there are a lot of people in Spokane Valley's a conservative place. There's a lot of people there who feel like the police force needs to be a lot more robust than it is. Mm-hmm. And so, so they embarked on this project to basically like bring it up to what they would see as like s. Speed for like, and they, this, this city council identified public safety as their number one priority. Mm-hmm. And they see cops as being central to that. Mm-hmm. They wanna be a big kid city. Yeah. I mean, well, and, and like services everywhere mm-hmm. Are like eroded, yeah. And but they, they, they really, they really wanna hire a lot of new cops and they, they hired 10 new officers last year. Dedicated ones. Mm-hmm. And two that they share with the Spokane County Sheriff. They want to hire more than that. Mm-hmm. And to, to hire the, the 10 that they hired last year, they cut a lot from other programs. And there's basically no fat left in the budget to do that again. So they can't really cut from, or this is, this is what, do you know off the top of your head what programs they cut from? I don't. Okay. I don't know. I don't know that that's, I'm still in the middle of reporting. Right. That out. But the, the, the city managers will tell you that there's really nothing left mm-hmm. To cut from the budget unless they start cutting aquatics or like, just like important programs for like, or, or parks or just, yeah. Things that people also need. Mm-hmm. And there, there's, this is controversial on the city council. Like there's, there's at least one member that feels like there is more to cut and he won't let city council member Al Merkel wants them to like zero out the budget, geez. Fully fund the police department and then like figure out which other programs are like, what leftover can be doled out to the other programs. Okay. And he talked about this on Tuesday night. But so the, so the, so the second phase one of the proposals to funds more police mm-hmm. And I, I can't remember the exact number, but I know that they, they want nine new patrol officers and some other types of officers, including a behavioral health specialist. Mm-hmm. They wanna propose a new tax, a a 0.1% tax, so that that equates to about 10 cents out of a hundred dollars for sales. Mm-hmm. Sales tax to hire these new officers. Taxes are unpopular in Spokane Valley, but. I think police are more popular than the taxes are unpopular. And this it's a fun little caw. So that's, that's the first, that's the first resolution that they, they, they, or that was, and, and this is like, sorry, this is, this is a, this is a ballot initiative that they wanna put to the voters. Is it a ballot initiative? Yes. Oh, okay. So this would, it would be, if, if they do it, it'll be on the August 5th election. Got it. And the voters will decide whether that gets implemented. Okay. So, and, and this meeting on Tuesday night, they were having, I think, the first public hearing for that, right? They voted, I think they voted for, they voted on language for the, for the ballot initiative. Oh, interesting. I thought they were just having a public hearing. They've, they've held, it was a public hearing, but they, they've held, they've held readings for it. Got it. Before. Okay. So that, did they cover that first, that item first, or did they cover the other item first? That was, that was the first item they covered. Oh, interesting. That's not how it was, I think, in the agenda. Yeah, it was, it was the first thing they talked about, huh? On Tuesday night. That's so funny. Okay, so let's talk about the second thing they talked about. So the other one, so this has a little bit of a history to it. In 2016 the Spokane Valley City Council voted in a resolution that declared that Spokane Valley is not a sanctuary city, which is basically, it's a term that describes a government that, or, or a place where the law enforcement agencies. And, and there are several definitions, but in this context where, where law enforcement agencies do not help mm-hmm. The federal government to enforce immigration law. Yeah. And so, and these laws, or in these sanctuary city policies, I think, I dunno if they're policies or laws technically, but those were created so that people who are undocumented wouldn't be afraid to like, call 9 1 1 for when they need help. Exactly. And things like that, because they were afraid of getting deported as a result. So that was the reasoning behind sanctuary cities. So that's, that's the, yeah, that's, that's why sanctuary cities or states or counties exist is to like, provide some level of safety for, for migrants who might be undocumented. We live in a context where even documented migrants are being rounded up and, and deported people who are here legally. But so, so that, that was in 2016. In 2019 I believe it was. Mm-hmm. The state created the legis, the Washington State legislature created a sanctuary lots called the Keep Washington Working Act. And that act made it so that no law enforcement mm-hmm. Jurisdictions in the state could help federal agents locate or, or deport immigrants mm-hmm. Who are undocumented. And so the entire state, it became a sanctuary state, essentially. Okay. But the resolution that the Spokane Valley City Council had, had been, stayed in place. Mm-hmm. They just couldn't enforce it because that would cut against the, the Keep Washington Working Act of the state law. Okay. So fast forward to today. That, that, that original resolution was still on the books. Mm-hmm. And the, an item was on, was on the agenda for, for Tuesday night saying just like replacing that resolution with a new resolution, basically the 2016 resolution. Yeah. Okay. It, it gets rid of the 2016 re resolution and creates a new. And, and this is like, it doesn't have any teeth. It's really just a statement, but it's a resolution that says it, it like reaffirms that San, that Spokane Valley is not a sanctuary city. Mm-hmm. And that it's going to encourage, its its police forces to help federal help other agencies to enforce immigration law within the confines of state law. So, and that, and that's basically an admission saying mm-hmm. We know that the state law does not allow us to do this. Mm-hmm. But we wish we could. Yeah. And, and Aaron Sellers put it in a, a good way or a way that I liked is that this was more of a value statement than like an action, but it's still a bold value statement in this climate, right? Yeah. I mean, it's essentially saying that like, it's what it essentially, what it, what it means is that Spokane Valley. Doesn't like mm-hmm. The Keep Washington working at it once. Mm-hmm. It wants its police forces to help federal agents round up and deport migrants. And so they started talking about this resolution after they had a public comment hearing or a public hearing about a new sales tax that they want voters to vote yes on to provide more funding for police officers. For more police officers. And then shortly after they had, or they talked about the resolution mm-hmm. About their, they want their police officers to help the federal officials. Deport people. So yeah, tell me, we, I don't, we haven't actually caught up since I think Tuesday night on this or had a chance to really dig in. Can you tell me, like, what was the sentiment at the, at the meeting Tuesday nights? So there, I've never, I've been to, I haven't, I don't go to Spokane Valley City Council meetings often. Mm-hmm. But I have been a number of times, and I've never seen it like this. The, the room was packed. Mm-hmm. Most of the seats were full. People were lining the walls and they heard for, for the sanctuary city resolution mm-hmm. They heard 31 public comments. Mm-hmm. 29 of them were like vehemently against it. A lot of those folks were from, I, I, I would say about half of them were from out of, outside of Spokane Valley. Mm-hmm. I, again, Spokane Valley is a conservative place. I I imagine a lot of folks, a lot of voters there would support this resolution, but the people who showed up to city council on Tuesday night were not those people. Yeah. And they, they cut the, the public mayor, Pam Haley, cut the the public comment period from three minutes to one minute to accommodate everybody. Mm-hmm. So they read really fast from their statements. Yeah, yeah. Squeezing three minutes of comments into one minute. Mm-hmm. And it was funny, mayor Haley, like commended them on how fast they were going. And a lot of them, a lot of them were identified the same connection that you identified. Mm-hmm. And they're like, how do you expect us to vote on an, on extra taxes for new cops when you're just creating extra work? Mm-hmm. For them. To enforce laws that are not in their jurisdiction. Right. So that was one of the contentions. Most of it was more like concerned with just like the human aspect of it. Mm-hmm. Like, immigrants are here in good faith. They, they want, like, by and large they mm-hmm. They commit less crime Yeah. Than other communities. They came here because they wanted to better their lives. Mm-hmm. By and large. They're human beings, some of, some of them Yeah. Commit crimes just like Americans do. Yeah. But but everybody wanted the, the, the, the city council to support them rather than saying like, we want to help deport mm-hmm. People. It was pretty contentious. Yeah. What were the people who were in support of this thing? I don't know. Well, so, so a couple people. So, so two of the 31. You mean the, the people during public comment? Yeah. Sorry, what was I saying? They, they basically said that, the federal government has primacy over, over local governments. Which is like, and basically saying that like, like that means that city governments should help force en enforce federal law, which is like about that federal money. It doesn jurisdictions don't work that way. But the, so, so the, the reason this was proposed, it came from city council member Jessica Jager, who mm-hmm. She's, she's known for having established the Moms for Liberty chapter in Spokane Valley which is like an anti-trans mm-hmm. Activist group. She said that she, she wanted to advance this resolution because she wanted to keep federal funds flowing into Spokane Valley because the Trump administration had threatened to, hmm. Had had threatened to cut federal funding off from sanctuary jurisdictions. Mayor Pam Haley had a different reason. Mm-hmm. She, she said this resolution brings Spokane Valley into compliance with the Keep Washington working at Hmm. Which it does. A lot of folks were wondering why they didn't just repeal the old resolution. Yeah. And she didn't answer that question. But they they voted up both measures. It fell, go ahead. Oh, did, did they provide any rationale for the, the two together at the same time? No, they didn't talk about that. I mean, they didn't like talk about it in the context of each other, right? No, no. I, I think, I don't think they saw them as connected really. Hmm. Fascinating. Or it didn't seem that way. But a lot of the community did see them as Yeah. As being, as, as having some overlap. It fell, it fell along predictable lines, so. Mm-hmm. So, council members I, well, deputy Mayor, mayor Hattenburg, who's the sole liberal. He's, he's not, he's not super lefty, but he's, he's a moderate. Mm-hmm. He, he's registered as a Democrat and Ben Wick, who's a kind of a moderate conservative, both voted against mm-hmm. The, the sanctuary city resolution, and everybody else voted for it. Interestingly, council member Al Merkel, he didn't wanna vote for it because he didn't feel like it did anything. And it doesn't do anything like fair, like, no, like the city's operations are not gonna change because of this resolution. He didn't wanna vote for it, but he did vote for it because he did a next door poll. And most of, most of the people who responded to it in his constituency, supported the resolution and he said, I work for my constituents, and so I'm voting for it. But he told me later that he wouldn't have if he hadn't received that feedbacking. And with the sales tax, what was the public comment real quick before we run out of most people were folks, folks were in, in support of it. The only in, in the, of the sales tax? Yes. Oh, interesting. They, they want, they want more cops. Okay. Fascinating. Al Council member Al Merkel voted against it because he didn't feel like they'd done their homework in, in trying to cut more from the budget, but Yeah. Huh. I am always fascinated by the rationales of other people. The dynamics are very interesting, but I think we're at the top. Or at the end of the show. So yes. This, sorry. That's our time for this week. Free Range is a weekly news and public affairs program presented by Range Media and produced by Range Media and K-Y-R-S-Q Community Radio, Thanks for listening today, guys. Bye everyone.