He was charged with trying to lure boy, who later recanted
All Steve King wanted was an apology.
And yet King, 61, said he has not received so much as an acknowledgement of the damage an 11-year-old boy’s allegations six months ago had on his life.
King, who works for Clark County’s Department of Community Services, filed a lawsuit last week against the county, alleging malicious prosecution and defamation.
The suit follows felony charges that were filed in May against King that allege he tried to lure the boy into his car on two occasions; he was cleared seven weeks later after the boy recanted his allegations.
But the stigma — and the county’s lack of remorse — has remained, said King’s attorney, Josephine Townsend.
“Everyone agrees he was falsely charged, yet no one has offered an apology,” Townsend said. “They basically rushed to judgment and tarnished his reputation without any consideration of the harm they were doing.”
Townsend filed the formal complaint Thursday in Clark County Superior Court. It names a host of defendants, including Prosecuting Attorney Art Curtis and Sheriff Garry Lucas; Deputy Prosecutor Dustin Richardson and Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kim Farr; sheriff’s deputies Anthony Spainhower and Mike Cooke; and the boy’s mother, Beverly Collins.
The suit was filed after Townsend’s June 9 tort claim for $1 million could not be resolved with county officials.
Mark Wilsdon, the county’s risk manager, denied the tort claim in a June 22 letter, saying “it is very unfortunate your client suffered such a loss, (but) this loss and civil action should be against your false-accuser and respective parents. This clearly has nothing to do with Clark County or its employees.”
Friday, Chief Civil Deputy E. Bronson Potter said his office has yet to receive paperwork of the lawsuit. “We can’t comment until we’ve actually seen the complaint,” Potter said.
The boy’s mother, Collins, could not be reached for comment.
The suit is the latest development in a case that started with an April 16 call to 911.
Collins, a YWCA children’s advocate who works out of the Arthur D. Curtis Children’s Justice Center, reported that her son said a stranger drove up while he was walking home from the bus stop.
According to her son, the stranger said he needed to take him to the hospital to see his mother. Collins said the same man had approached her son a week earlier.
Before the son confessed to lying, Collins insisted King, who lives in her Salmon Creek neighborhood, was the stranger. The day after calling 911, she saw King drive by her home, and took a picture of his car to give to a deputy.
King did not match the physical description of the stranger given by the boy and drove a Ford Escort; the boy claimed the stranger drove a Honda.
King tried to explain to sheriff’s deputies that it was a case of mistaken identity, but deputies filed police reports, anyway.
King hired Townsend to help him collect evidence, including phone records and e-mail messages that proved he was in his office, 12 miles away, at the time of the supposed luring on Northwest 151st Street.
Deputies conducted a follow-up interview with the boy, who admitted lying about everything.
On June 26, Superior Court Judge John Nichols dismissed the case with prejudice and ordered it sealed.
Still, the damage was already done, King said. He was placed on three days’ unpaid leave (he has since been reimbursed), endured co-workers’ whispering behind his back and had to try to explain to his daughter why he was charged in the first place.
“Once you get charged with something — even if it’s false — there’s a sense that you had to have something to do with it,” King said.
The suit alleges that King suffered “humiliation, emotional trauma, depression, loss of consortium, embarrassment, loss of enjoyment of life and incurred legal expenses and costs” as a result of the case.
The suit also claims that prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies failed to “terminate the criminal prosecution upon learning facts showing a lack of probable cause” and failed to “declare a conflict of interest” because the then-alleged victim’s mother works in connection with the prosecutor’s office.
“I really hope justice can be done,” King said. “These checks and balances really have to happen.”
Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.
