Current:Home > Contact-usMan arrested in Washington state after detective made false statements gets $225,000 settlement-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Man arrested in Washington state after detective made false statements gets $225,000 settlement
View Date:2024-12-23 20:49:35
SEATTLE (AP) — King County will pay $225,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought by a Black man who was arrested on drug charges after a veteran detective made false statements to obtain a search warrant, including misidentifying him in a photo.
Detective Kathleen Decker, a now-retired 33-year veteran of the King County Sheriff’s Office, was looking for a murder weapon when she asked a Washington state judge for a warrant to search the car and apartment of Seattle resident Gizachew Wondie in 2018. At the time, federal agents were separately looking into Wondie’s possible involvement in selling drugs.
Wondie was not a suspect in the homicide, but Decker’s search warrant application said a gun he owned was the same weapon that had been used to kill a 22-year-old woman a few months earlier.
In reality, the gun was only a potential match and further testing was required to prove it. Further, Decker, who is white, falsely claimed that a different Black man pictured in an Instagram photo holding a gun was Wondie, and that Wondie had a “propensity” for violence, when he had never been accused of a violent crime.
Decker also omitted information from her search warrant application that suggested Wondie no longer possessed the gun she was looking for. During a federal court hearing about the warrant’s validity, she acknowledged some of her statements were incorrect or exaggerated, but she said she did not deliberately mislead the judge who issued the warrant.
The false and incomplete statements later forced federal prosecutors to drop drug charges against Wondie. A federal judge called her statements “reckless conduct, if not intentional acts.”
“Detectives need to be truthful, complete, and transparent in their testimony to judges reviewing search warrant applications,” Wondie’s attorney, Dan Fiorito, said in an emailed statement Tuesday. “Incorrectly portraying Mr. Wondie as a violent gang member based on an inept cross-racial identification, and exaggerating ballistics evidence to tie him to a crime he was not involved in, was reckless and a complete violation of his rights.”
The King County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately return an email seeking comment. The county did not admit liability as part of the settlement.
Two days after the judge issued the warrant, Decker had a SWAT team confront Wondie as he parked his car near Seattle Central College, where he was studying computer science. The SWAT team arrested Wondie and found drugs on him.
Investigators then questioned Wondie and learned he had another apartment, where using another search warrant they found 11,000 Xanax pills, 171 grams of cocaine, a pill press and other evidence of drug dealing.
Wondie’s defense attorneys successfully argued that without the false statements used for the first warrant, authorities would not have had probable cause to arrest Wondie or learn of the second apartment. U.S. District Judge Richard Jones threw out the evidence in the federal case, and prosecutors dropped those charges.
Decker was the sheriff’s office detective of the year in 2018. The department called her “an outright legend” in a Facebook post marking her 2020 retirement.
veryGood! (7221)
Related
- College Football Playoff ranking release: Army, Georgia lead winners and losers
- Iowa teen gets life in prison for fatal drive-by shooting near a school
- After months of buildup, news outlets finally have the chance to report on election results
- 2 Republican incumbents lose in Georgia House, but overall Democratic gains are limited
- 'We suffered great damage': Fierce California wildfire burns homes, businesses
- SW Alliance's Token Strategy: The SWA Token Fuels Deep Innovation in AI Investment Systems
- ROYCOIN Trading Center: Reshaping the Future of Financial Markets with Innovations in NFTs and Digital Currencies
- Influencer banned for life from NYC Marathon after obstructing runners during race
- Father, 5 children hurt in propane tank explosion while getting toys: 'Devastating accident'
- What are the 20 highest-paying jobs in America? Doctors, doctors, more doctors.
Ranking
- Chiefs block last-second field goal to save unbeaten record, beat Broncos
- See Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump and More of the First Family's Fashion Over the Years
- No call yet in Iowa’s closely contested 1st Congressional District
- AP Race Call: Arizona voters approve constitutional amendment enshrining abortion access
- Taylor Swift Becomes Auntie Tay In Sweet Photo With Fellow Chiefs WAG Chariah Gordon's Daughter
- AP Race Call: Arizona voters approve constitutional amendment enshrining abortion access
- Big Ten, Boise State, Clemson headline College Football Playoff ranking winners and losers
- Virginia judge orders election officials to certify results after they sue over voting machines
Recommendation
-
Advocates Expect Maryland to Drive Climate Action When Trump Returns to Washington
-
Dexter Quisenberry – The Visionary Founder Leading SW Alliance’s Ascent
-
Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed
-
Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler's kids watched '50 First Dates' together
-
Princess Kate to host annual Christmas carol service following cancer treatment
-
Watch this young batter react to a surprise new pitcher
-
Blue's Clues Host Steve Burns Wants to Remind You to Breathe After 2024 Election Results
-
Why AP called Florida for Trump