SEATTLE — The commission that oversees training and certification of Washington law enforcement has moved to discipline and possibly revoke the badge of Auburn police Officer Jeff Nelson, who’s awaiting trial on murder charges in a fatal 2019 shooting.
The Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission last week charged Nelson in a three-count complaint alleging he showed a pattern of “an intentional or reckless disregard for the rights of others” for eight years and “failed to meet the ethical and professional standards required of a peace officer.”
Nelson, 44, has been waiting nearly four years to stand trial for the shooting death of Jesse Sarey, with a trial date now set in March. One of his attorneys, Emma Scanlan, finds the timing of the decertification charges suspicious, given that Nelson was charged three years ago.
The criminal charges form the foundation of the commission’s attempt to take Nelson’s badge.
“The State has had over four years to request decertification of Officer Nelson if they truly thought it was necessary,” Scanlan said in a statement.
“The timing of this filing is at best convenient to the prosecution, and at worst an attempt to deny Officer Nelson his right to a fair trial in the criminal case.”
Training Commission Executive Director Monica Alexander said Nelson will be provided a hearing before any action is taken against his certification. She said if the allegations are founded, the commission has three options: order Nelson to undergo additional training or suspend or revoke his certification.
The commission’s charges reference a number of instances that occurred years ago and state that Nelson’s murder charges — regardless of whether he’s convicted — are enough to justify discipline against his certification under revised decertification statutes enacted last year.
The charges allege Nelson violated his oath as a police officer when, between 2011 and 2019, he engaged in “at least 17 uses of force” that showed a reckless disregard to civil rights.
Many of the incidents involve dog bites, as Nelson worked as a police dog handler. Others involved his frequent use of lateral vascular neck restraints, a now-banned hold that restricts blood flow to the brain, causing unconsciousness.
A review of the incidents indicates Nelson has also used a Taser, his fists, his feet and resorted to his firearm on several occasions, killing three people — Sarey, Isaiah Obet and Brian Scaman.
Nelson became the first officer charged with murder in Washington following voters’ 2018 approval of Initiative 940, which implemented new legal standards for prosecutions in police use-of-force cases. He’s also the first officer charged with murder in King County in nearly 50 years.
Three Tacoma police officers acquitted in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis were charged after Nelson, but their case went to trial first, wrapping up Thursday.
The outside attorneys King County has brought in to prosecute Nelson are the same lawyers tapped by the Washington Attorney General’s Office in the Tacoma case.
In May 2019, Nelson fatally shot Sarey during a physical altercation outside Auburn’s Sunshine Market. Nelson claimed that during the struggle, Sarey tried to grab his folding knife and gun.
According to witnesses and video of the shooting, Sarey had his back to an ice machine when Nelson shot him in the abdomen and he slumped to the ground. Nelson’s gun malfunctioned, so he cleared the jam and fired a second shot into Sarey’s forehead, 3.4 seconds after firing the first round.
Nelson later said in a written statement that he believed Sarey had a knife and posed a threat before firing the first shot — and that Sarey was on his knees in a “squatting fashion … ready to spring forward” before he fired again.
The city of Auburn paid Sarey’s family $4 million to settle a civil rights claim over the deadly shooting and has paid nearly $2 million more to settle other litigation over Nelson’s actions as a police officer.
