Current Events > Retired police commander confused, angry after cops killed his daughter

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Andrea Churna thought someone was trying to kill her when she called Redmond police for help the night of Sept. 20, 2020. Raised around cops, she did what she was asked to do when police arrived to find her armed with a handgun.

She put the weapon down, walked out of her apartment unarmed, clad in a T-shirt and yoga pants, hands up, and laid face down on the carpeted hallway floor outside her door proned out as officers at the scene described it.

None of that kept police from killing her. An officer, just 18 months out of the police academy, shot the 39-year-old mother six times with a high-powered rifle as she lay on the floor 30 feet away. She had been in obvious distress and was asking for her ex-husband.

She called them for help, said an emotional Michael Thomas, Churnas father, as he sat at the dining room table in his home in Port Orchard. And they killed her for it. This is a nightmare for us. Where is the justice for my daughter?

More than a year later, Thomas is dismissive of the process surrounding the investigation into his daughters death. Hes frustrated that nobody can tell him whether the officers involved will be held accountable for what he believes was an unnecessary and excessive use of force against an unarmed, mentally disturbed woman who had asked for help and was trying to surrender.

While any father would feel that way in his position, Thomas opinion carries a certain authority hes a retired Michigan State Police commander who in a distinguished 32-year career investigated or oversaw investigations into dozens of police shootings and homicides himself.

Ive never seen anything like it, said Thomas. Where are the charges? The facts are there. Andrea grew up in a law enforcement family. I feel guilty because her expectation was that if you called police, they would come and help.

The shooting was investigated by the King County Sheriffs Office, whose detectives repeatedly expressed frustration over the lack of cooperation of the Redmond officers and interference by their union attorney,according to sheriffs reports. They turned an admittedly incomplete investigation over to the King County Prosecuting Attorneys Office last spring. Prosecutors have declined to decide whether to pursue criminal charges against the officers pending a coroners inquest a process stalled since 2017 and currently mired in procedural knots.

Fifteen months after the shooting, the officer who killed Churna, 26-year-old Daniel Mendoza, has declined to give a statement to sheriffs investigators or be interviewed about why he pulled the trigger. Several other officers at the scene the only witnesses since there were no civilians in the hallway, no surveillance cameras and none of the officers wore body cameras were sent home that night without talking to investigators.

Police officers enjoy the same Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination as all citizens.
They were not admonished against talking to one another and most didnt provide written statements for six days, after they had all consulted with the same guild attorney. Some written statements didnt come in for months. Several officers there that night declined to sit for follow-up interviews or provide any additional information to outside investigators.

The statements that have been provided to us up to this point are not adequate or conducive for us to conduct a thorough investigation, wrote King County sheriffs Detective Sarah Gerlitz in an email to her supervisors Nov. 14, 2020, more than six weeks after the shooting.

In most criminal investigations, potential suspects are generally separated as the sheriffs detectives attempted here or otherwise asked not to speak with one another to avoid collusion or dilution of recollection. In addition, the routine practice of delaying questioning of officers involved in using force also is controversial; additional time is rarely afforded citizens suspected of violent crimes.

All of those statements are suspect, said Kim Zak, an attorney hired by Churnas parents, who are planning a lawsuit.

A review of several hundred pages of investigative reports, diagrams, crime-scene photographs and dispatch calls and logs obtained by The Seattle Times through a public disclosure request showed most of those officers continue their silence today.

This past September, after the sheriffs criminal investigation was completed, Redmond Chief Darrell Lowe announced he was launching an internal investigation into the shooting, stating that he had employed the Force Science Institute out of Illinois to provide an independent force review and analysis of the shooting.

However, FSI has been denounced by civil rights attorneys, psychologists and the Department of Justice for its methods and conclusions. A 2015 New York Times investigation pointed out that foundation consultants, in hundreds of cases involving police shootings, almost universally sided with the officer, even when the suspect was unarmed.

The results of the internal investigation are pending.

Chief Lowe, in a statement last week, stated that the Churna shooting will also be the subject of a coroners inquest. However, it rests at No. 43 in a list of 52 pending inquests into law enforcement-related deaths in King County since 2017, and it could be years before an inquest jury hears the case and the prosecutors office gets its recommendation.
...continued

Unnamed lady with empty hands prone on the ground 30 feet away? How horrifying that must have been for the cop who was trained to be fearful of everything.

This might never get any closure at all and only serves as further proof that king county officers are horrible about applying unnecessary and excessive force... As well as also being case #457742226788 of why it's fucking bonkers that police can unionize.

Lol

Pigs gonna oink

Antifar posted...

She put the weapon down, walked out of her apartment unarmed, clad in a T-shirt and yoga pants, hands up, and laid face down on the carpeted hallway floor outside her door proned out as officers at the scene described it.

None of that kept police from killing her. An officer, just 18 months out of the police academy, shot the 39-year-old mother six times with a high-powered rifle as she lay on the floor 30 feet away. She had been in obvious distress and was asking for her ex-husband.

How afraid for his life was this officer?

tag

None of them were wearing body cameras? How shocking

thronedfire2 posted...

None of them were wearing body cameras? How shocking

King county police have a history of that as well as dragging out investigations.

Daddy cop shouldnt be surprised. Those are the kinda people he used to work with. He was one of them too.

Reminds me of the Daniel Shaver execution

Fuck pig unions

Is NOW the time to start holding Police accountable or...

"You want to hold police accountable? What will you do when someone breaks in to try to kill you!"

Also I've said it before, but no bodycam on = Automatic guilty. Don't trust any of these fuckers.

Officer that shot her is subhuman trash and so is any cop okay with this

Hopefully this spurs Thomas to become a legit activist for reform.

"The shooting was investigated by the King County Sheriffs Office, whose detectives repeatedly expressed frustration over the lack of cooperation of the Redmond officers and interference by their union attorney,according to sheriffs reports. They turned an admittedly incomplete investigation over to the King County Prosecuting Attorneys Office last spring. Prosecutors have declined to decide whether to pursue criminal charges against the officers pending a coroners inquest a process stalled since 2017 and currently mired in procedural knots."

Because fucking of course.

A guy shoots and kills a mother who happens to be the daughter of one of your own, and you let him get away with it? This isn't a brotherhood, this borders on a cult like mentality. To not have one single officer do the right thing in a situation like this is why people question if there are any good cops left.

If we abolish the police, who will you call to come execute you with a high-powered rifle as you lie on the floor 30 feet away in a compliant, proned out position?

pure evil shit but they LAUGH when you suggest that a Field Psychiatrist should be accompany officers for calls like this.

This cop whose daughter got killed isnt raising nearly enough hell.

Urine-soaked cowards.

There's no telling what happened at the scene, but everything that happened afterward has corruption written all over it. This should be a federal investigation

eston posted...

There's no telling what happened at the scene, but everything that happened afterward has corruption written all over it. This should be a federal investigation

One thing we know is a woman was killed so we know thats not right

eston posted...

There's no telling what happened at the scene, but everything that happened afterward has corruption written all over it. This should be a federal investigation

If only there was some way that exists that could have told us what happened at the scene...

Nasty_Nitro posted...

One thing we know is a woman was killed so we know thats not right

Well yeah but I mean in a general sense of we don't know why he shot her, but we do know that multiple people in the dept. including witnesses took active steps to prevent it from being investigated

eston posted...

There's no telling what happened at the scene, but everything that happened afterward has corruption written all over it. This should be a federal investigation

The corruption is so blatant, but even aside from that didnt the officers at the scene basically say there was no reason the cop shot her, according to the article?

I mean, is there any dispute that she was lying on the ground, compliant, proned out, and the guy shot her from 30 feet away while she was doing that?

eston posted...

Well yeah but I mean in a general sense of we don't know why he shot her, but we do know that multiple people in the dept. including witnesses took active steps to prevent it from being investigated

I feel like you know what im saying

• a woman was shot
• police are intentionally covering it up

clearly something illegal was done by the cops

To think it's still like that when it's the daughter of a retired police commander. What hope do others have?

Nasty_Nitro posted...

I feel like you know what im saying

* a woman was shot
* police are intentionally covering it up
clearly something illegal was done by the cops

Yeah, you guys are arguing the same thing.

The initial shooting may or may not have been corrupt, it probably was but nobody knows for sure because what came after was definitely corrupt.

Only had to shoot her 6 times huh?

MabusIncarnate posted...

Only had to shoot her 6 times huh?

She wouldn't stop, uh, not having a gun?

DarthAragorn posted...

She wouldn't stop, uh, not having a gun?

She's got six bullets in her, she's considered armed.

Police shot an unarmed white woman who was complying?

This is an open admission they're above accountability.

Antifar posted...

Hes frustrated that nobody can tell him whether the officers involved will be held accountable

Spoilers: They won't

That officer will get a firm talking to I'm sure, maybe even a one week suspension. This is how cops are held accountable.

MabusIncarnate posted...

That officer will get a firm talking to I'm sure, maybe even a one week suspension. This is how cops are held accountable.

Seems unlikely

MabusIncarnate posted...

That officer will get a firm talking to I'm sure, maybe even a one week suspension. This is how cops are held accountable.

Captain: you shouldn't have shot a cop's daughter! Come on man, we don't do that!

Cop: I know......I'm sorry

Captain: sigh.....well as long as you learned a lesson from this. Take the rest of the day off and think about what you did. See you tomorrow

Welcome to reality I guess.

Too bad he couldn't quit his fantasy rah rah bullshit before teaching his daughter how to murder herself by cop.

Tragic

Oh, how the turn tables.

I wonder how many families went without justice under his watch?

This is almost a karmic act of god

Naysaspace posted...

Oh, how the turn tables.

I wonder how many families went without justice under his watch?

This is almost a karmic act of god

Someone say tables turn?

https://youtu.be/J_moHXjH7pc

Sorry involuntary. But uh, enjoy the music of tables turning.

this is egregious, even by the incredibly low standards i have for cops when it comes to 'when not to kill someone'

Ive never seen anything like it, said Thomas.

Bullshit, there's a 100% chance your piggy-ass covered up countless police brutality incidents *exactly like this* and now you're going to act shocked when it happens to you?

Fuck off.

Wait we're body cameras issued or required in 2017?

Ruvan22 posted...

Wait we're body cameras issued or required in 2017?

i'm sure their batteries were dead.

Zero chance this goes anywhere. Washington state has one of the worst rated police forces in the country. I knew a store clerk. A young black man who was working at a GameStop onetime before 2015.

There was a black suspect wanted out in Tukwilla. As he going about his normal shift in a mall. A black officer comes rushing in and dive tackles him over the counter. His head connected with the top side edge corner of the counter behind him.

Which knocked him out unconscious. The officer lifted him up. Carrying him out of the mall. Placing the young man into his patrol car. They held him in jail for one day. Before they identified that he was not the wanted suspect.

He filed some sort of lawsuit against the police officer. When I met him around 2015. He was working then at one of the those pay for video game space business's, (consoles,games,televisions, comfy chairs).

he was studying law then to combat the case. The first court presentation or something was a 5 year wait. So right about this time. He should be having his first appearance.

Felt bad for him.

Solar_Crimson posted...

How afraid for his life was this officer?

As afraid as the cop who executed Daniel Shaver was. Not afraid at all.

Firing squad? Everytime someone says they don't know what happened one gets popped. Rinse and repeat until someone speaks up. It's wrong, I know, but so was killing this woman.

MabusIncarnate posted...

Only had to shoot her 6 times huh?

With a high powered rifle. She must have been terrifying