Unlawful Flock stop ends in brain injury
King County Deputy John Welch erroneously stopped a man based on a Flock hit and performed a wrestling move that sent him into convulsion.
A King County deputy gave a man a traumatic brain injury during an unlawful stop initiated based on a hit from Flock Safety cameras, according to a disciplinary report.
Responding to a notification from a Flock camera, Deputy John Welch located a van matching the description parked at the Rocket gas station in Covington. Welch went inside the convenience store after confirming that the van was reported stolen.
He found two men using the ATM inside. Welch wrote in his report that the men eyed him “wearily [sic] ” and ducked down, but the store’s surveillance video showed them standing upright the entire time. The clerk also said that the men weren’t behaving strangely.
Welch called out to one of the men and told him to walk toward the deputy with his hands in the air. The man turned and began to run. Deputy Welch chased the man, yelling, “Stop! You’re under arrest!” The man tripped and fell to his knees near the checkout counter.
Deputy Welch jumped onto the man’s back. The two struggled until the man eventually broke free and stood up. Welch grabbed him around his waist and threw him back, causing him to strike his head on the floor.
The man began convulsing, vomiting, and making wheezing noises. The paramedics advised Welch to take him to the hospital for evaluation before sending him to jail. He was taken to urgent care and then to Tacoma General Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury.
No basis for the stop
The King County Office of Law Enforcement Accountability found that Welch did not have reasonable suspicion, much less probable cause, to detain the man. The Flock notification contained no description of the driver or passengers. Five minutes had passed between the Flock camera photographing the van and Welch’s arrival.
A silver car was parked in the lot, and the OLEO determined that it was “just as likely that [the two men] could have arrived in the silver car or on foot as in the stolen van.”
Welch’s other justification for the stop — the suspicious look — wasn’t supported by the video evidence. And if it were, it still would not justify a detention. OLEO cited Washington Supreme Court case law, which found that startled reactions or nervousness aren’t sufficient to justify a detention.
The OLEO also determined that Welch’s force was excessive. Given that the stop itself was unlawful, Welch was not entitled to use force at all. Welch also rushed into the encounter instead of waiting for another deputy, who was en route. The “amount of force he did use was likely unnecessary because it was the result of poor critical decision-making,” according to the report.
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