Chief goes easy on cop who hit cyclist

This was Ofc. Nana Appiah-Agyekum's eighth preventable collision in seven years. He's been retrained twice. Instead of a suspension, Chief Barnes opted for more training.

Seattle police Officer Nana Appiah-Agyekum was reprimanded for striking a cyclist last year after running a stop sign in South Lake Union, according to a disciplinary report released on Friday. The Office of Police Accountability recommended a suspension of one to two days, but the final discipline issued by the newly confirmed Chief Shon Barnes was below that range.

Though it’s not uncommon for chiefs to deviate from the OPA on discipline — Carmen Best and Adrian Diaz did — Barnes’ leniency is somewhat surprising, given the facts of this case.

On Aug. 24, 2024, Officer Appiah-Agyekum ran a four-way stop marked with both a stop sign and a blinking red light and struck a cyclist at 8th and Bell. The woman fell from her bike and scraped her ankle but was not otherwise injured.

Appiah-Agyekum admitted that he was looking at call information on his computer at the time of the crash. In his initial statement, he claimed that he “had fully stopped at the intersection and ensured it was clear before driving through it.” Later, “upon further reflection,” he realized that he “neither fully stopped nor cleared the intersection.”

In his seven-year career, Appiah-Agyekum has had 10 collisions — eight of which were determined to be “preventable” — but this was the first time the OPA investigated him for driving violations. The rest were handled informally through his chain of command.

He was given retraining in 2022 after another preventable collision, but he has had two more since then, including this one. After he struck the cyclist, the department temporarily barred him from driving. Appiah-Agyekum was only allowed to work as a passenger in a two-person team until he attended a multi-day safety course.

On two separate dates in December, Appiah-Agyekum met with detectives who counseled him on his driving and identified problem areas. One described his overall driving as “okay,” but “expressed concern about his distraction due to the computer.”

The OPA sustained allegations that Appiah-Agyekum violated Seattle’s traffic laws and failed to operate his patrol vehicle safely. Notably, he was not issued a traffic citation, according to the Seattle Municipal Court. In addition to a written reprimand, Chief Barnes ordered him to undergo emergency vehicle training.

Noting Appiah-Agyekum’s large number of crashes that went uninvestigated, the OPA additionally issued a management action, recommending that the department establish “objective standards and procedures” for referring preventable collisions to the OPA.

Appiah-Agyekum was previously suspended for negligently discharging a revolver inside a homeless shelter while trying to unload it.

Nana Appiah-Agyekum was hired in 2018. In 2023, the last year for which we have complete data, he made $232,423, including $119,014 in overtime.