SPOKANE, Wash (AP) — Spokane Mayor Mary Verner says she will launch a thorough review of the five-year-old death of Otto Zehm at the hands of police, but only after the legal cases are finished.
Zehm, a 36-year-old Spokane man with a mental disability, died following a confrontation with police in March 2006.
Verner said Friday that city officials realize citizens are frustrated there has been no resolution, and that the city wants to rebuild trust in the police department.
Spokane police Officer Karl Thompson faces federal charges of using excessive force and lying to investigators after the confrontation. The city also faces a civil lawsuit from Zehm’s family.
