SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Spokane’s mayor and police chief are denouncing the actions of some law enforcement officers who attended a court hearing for a fellow officer convicted of using excessive force in the 2006 death of a mentally ill man.
Officer Karl F. Thompson was ordered to be immediately jailed Friday, two days after he was convicted.
As the 64-year-old Thompson left the courtroom in the custody of U.S. marshals, fellow officers stood and saluted him.
Mayor Mary Verner and Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick later issued a joint statement saying the officers’ behavior was insensitive to the friends and family of the victim, Otto Zehm.