On a suicide call, a Seattle cop seemed like he was having a good time
Seattle Police Officer Caleb Pomazon made cartoonish sound effects and excitedly invited another officer to inspect a gunshot wound.
Content note: The following post contains discussion of suicide and graphic descriptions of a traumatic fatal injury that readers may find upsetting or disturbing.
A Seattle police officer joked about another officer owing him lunch, made disturbing sound effects, and said other things that trivialized a call about a suicide, according to a disciplinary report released on Friday.
Though the incident occurred three years ago, a deputy chief learned of it while reviewing bodycam footage and referred it to the Office of Police Accountability late last year.
In February 2023, a 911 call came in from the family member of a suicidal woman. They could no longer reach her, so they requested a welfare check. Officer Caleb Pomazon and three other officers were dispatched to an apartment, where they found the woman deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
When officers entered and discovered the body, Pomazon told the other officer, “You owe me lunch.”
The two officers had an agreement. While the other officer did not like taking dead-on-arrival calls, Pomazon was less bothered by them, so Pomazon offered to take his DOA calls in exchange for a free lunch per call.
The officers began to document the scene. As Pomazon took pictures of the closet, he pointed out what he believed to be bone fragments and brain matter to another officer. She shone her flashlight into the closet and said, “Oh, yeah, I see. That explains the splat.”
Pomazon made six squishing noises, imitating the sound of blood splattering against the walls, then said: “That sound effect.”
While photographing the woman’s head, Pomazon became animated. He said: “Jeez! Aw, dude, I’ve never seen that!”
He told another officer, “Dude, you should see her head. It’s lit – it’s literally split, like in two.” Pomazon continued, “Like, dude, it’s like split in half. Like if you actually – you can see straight into her brain.”
The officer pointed his flashlight briefly at the woman’s head and replied, “Yeah, I mean the whole thing is just opened up.”
In their OPA interviews, the three other officers rationalized Pomazon’s behavior, arguing that some officers “cope with trauma” through “dark humor.” Pomazon admitted that his squishing sounds were “inappropriate” and that his commentary was “maybe insensitive.”
The OPA found that Pomazon “trivialized” the investigation by bantering with the other officer about their lunch arrangement. His sound effects, intended to “add theatrics or levity,” served no purpose, and “diminished the seriousness” of the situation. The OPA noted that Pomazon’s comments on the injury “treated the scene as if it were a spectacle rather than an investigation.”
Though the disciplinary report had some strong words about Pomazon’s misconduct, he was given relatively light discipline. Pomazon received a written reprimand, the second-lowest form of discipline.
Pomazon, hired in 2020, was previously reprimanded for failing to investigate a stolen car in person, which is required by Seattle police policy. Pomazon interviewed the man by phone 10 hours after the initial call came in, but wrote in his report that he took the statement in person.
The OPA claimed it could not meet the elevated standard of proof to sustain dishonesty allegations, a fireable offense, so Pomazon was given a reprimand.
In his first year on the job, Pomazon fired through his own windshield at a fleeing, unarmed man who threw a flaming stick into his cruiser. He did not hit the man. The OPA ruled that this use of deadly force was justified.
Pomazon makes $159,036 base pay, excluding overtime.
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