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News / Northwest

King County reinstates police deadly-force inquests

By Associated Press
Published: May 31, 2019, 6:45am

SEATTLE — King County Executive Dow Constantine has reinstated the deadly-force inquest process after a nearly two-year overhaul.

The Seattle Time reports officials said Thursday the overhaul should provide a “more fair and transparent” system for reviewing deaths at the hands of law enforcement.

It aims to give the families of those killed more representation, focus more on policies and procedures that might prevent future killings and erases a longstanding perception that the process has favored police.

At a news conference, Constantine introduced three former judges who will preside over the inquests as key to the new process.

He also said he has ordered an inquest under the new system into the first of five police-related deaths whose inquests were suspended when he put a hold on the process in December 2017.

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