Video released in Spokane police shooting scandal

SPOKANE — A newly released convenience-store videotape clearly shows that Otto Zehm was carrying a 2-liter plastic bottle in his hands before he was killed in a confrontation with police officers.

It is the latest twist in a scandal that has rocked the Spokane Police Department, which is under fire for the death of the mentally disabled janitor.

Police had contended that an officer used his baton on Zehm because the bottle was a potential weapon. But an investigation showed Zehm's fingerprints were not on the bottle.

The video released Thursday showed Zehm with a bottle in his hands as he lay on his back in the initial stages of the fatal March 18 confrontation. It was released in response to a second round of public records requests.

"Clearly, I'm disappointed this video is coming out [Thursday] and didn't come out with the others," Spokane police spokesman Cpl. Tom Lee said.

Breean Beggs, an attorney for the Center for Justice, which is representing Zehm's mother, said he had not seen the new video showing Zehm with the bottle in his hands.

But that does not change his opinion that police used excessive force during the initial contact with Zehm and that the officers erred by placing an oxygen mask over Zehm's mouth and nose while he was hogtied on his stomach.

Police contend Zehm swung the bottle at an officer, although the tape does not show that.

Seven officers eventually hogtied Zehm, who had been shocked by a police stun gun, by placing nylon straps on his legs and cinching them up to his handcuffs. The video showed that the officers mostly kept Zehm on his stomach, which can restrict breathing.

Spokane County Prosecutor Steve Tucker said last week that he has hired a video forensic expert to review the surveillance videos and will take up to a month to decide whether the officers committed any crimes during the confrontation.

Medical Examiner Sally Aiken has ruled that Zehm died from lack of oxygen to the brain due to heart failure while being restrained on his stomach.