Problem cop killed man with car just before joining SPD

Det. Anthony Belgarde, who escaped discipline for two alcohol-fueled crimes, fatally hit a man in Bremerton the year before SPD hired him.

Seattle police Detective Anthony Belgarde, who recently escaped discipline for a 2020 DUI, struck and killed a man with his Jeep one year before joining the department, according to documents acquired by DivestSPD.

At around 8:35 pm on April 15, 2005, Belgarde was returning a DVD to a strip mall in Bremerton when he hit a 65-year-old man in the parking lot. Belgarde pulled over, rendered aid, and called 911. He told police the man was bleeding from his nose and choking, so he rolled him onto his side. (This is known as the “recovery position,” which is not recommended for people with serious injuries.)

Emergency personnel arrived at about 8:45 pm and began life-saving measures, but the man died on the scene. Belgarde told police that he was blinded by the lights of a turning car headed in the opposite direction, and he couldn’t see the man.

One officer, who arrived at 9:05 pm, observed that the parking lot was “poorly lit” and raining. However, meteorological records for the collision date show only between 0.01 to 0.02 inches of rain, and Belgarde hit the man during the early onset of nautical twilight. Officers on the scene identified no signs of impairment at the time.

Kitsap County declined to charge Belgarde in that incident. A year later, at age 22, Belgarde applied to work at the Seattle Police Department. Records show that the incident came up during a background check, but the department hired him despite this.

Since he was hired, Belgarde has faced several serious allegations but few sustained findings. He was investigated in 2015 for an off-duty brawl, during which he and a friend savagely beat a man in the bathroom of a Pt. Orchard and ripped the sink from the wall. The court agreed to drop the charges in exchange for restitution to the victim.

The Office of Police Accountability didn’t complete the investigation until 2022. By that time, the investigation deadlines set in the police guild contract had lapsed, and the OPA couldn’t impose discipline.

In 2020, a severely inebriated Belgarde ran a stop sign in Federal Way and refused a breathalyzer test. He later pleaded down to reckless driving. The deadlines in the SPOG contract again saved him.

Belgarde was also one of three officers who fired wildly at a car, thinking that they were being ambushed. Though OPA initially sustained allegations against the officers, the police chief overturned them.

He is currently under investigation for pulling over a King County Metro Bus in his unmarked car.