TACOMA — The daughters of a slain Tacoma police officer have filed a lawsuit against the Tacoma Police Department, claiming Tacoma officers should have arrested the suspect before their father was killed.
KING-TV reports the lawsuit says two weeks before Officer Reginald Gutierrez was killed by Bruce Johnson, police stopped Johnson but did not arrest him. The lawsuit says he had an active warrant for his arrest.
Gutierrez was killed Nov. 30, 2016, by Johnson during a standoff and eventual shoot-out with police.
Johnson was killed by officers after he shot Gutierrez 24 times.
The city of Tacoma issued a statement Monday saying the city’s legal department has evaluated the lawsuit claims being asserted, and while they are deeply sorry, and share his family’s tremendous sense of loss, the facts alleged in this lawsuit are simply insufficient to support liability against the city.
