'05 Belltown shootout victim files $500,000 claim against city

A young woman who was wounded during a police shootout in Belltown in 2005 has filed a $500,000 claim against the city, alleging that the bullet that nicked her spine and is still lodged in her lung was fired by a negligent Seattle police officer.

Christin Kellner was a 19-year-old au pair from Germany who was with friends outside Belltown Billiards early on the morning of Sept. 23, 2005, when a man who had been thrown out of the bar hours earlier came back on a motorcycle firing a handgun. Two of six officers at the scene returned fire, and during the exchange, Kellner was struck in the back by a bullet doctors have left in her body, saying it would be too dangerous to remove, according to her attorney, Frank Shoichet.

The suspect, 21-year-old Francisco Figueroa-Cook, was shot in the leg as he roared past the officers. He plowed into a car while on the motorcycle and was seriously hurt. He was later convicted of assault and sent to prison.

At the time, Chief Gil Kerlikowske said it could not be determined whether Kellner was hit by a police round. What the chief did say — and what a department Firearms Review Board later concluded as well — is that the officers' actions were necessary to prevent even more people from being hurt.

It was a point the department reiterated Friday.

"We would like to think that the actions those officers took that night could have saved countless other lives," said department spokesman Jeff Kappel. Otherwise, he said, the department had no comment on pending litigation. The city and department have 60 days to respond to the claim, which was filed with the clerk's office. After that deadline, Kellner is free to file a lawsuit.

Shoichet said matching ballistics on the bullet that hit his client is likely impossible. The round fragmented when it clipped a vertebra, with the biggest piece lodging in her lung. She has mostly recovered after extensive surgery, an infection and rehabilitation.

Kellner is now living at Fort Bragg, N.C., awaiting her soldier-husband's return from a second tour of duty in Iraq, Shoichet said. Kellner, contacted Friday, declined to comment.

She was standing with friends on the south side of Blanchard Street near Western Avenue when Figueroa-Cook roared up the street. Witnesses said he had a silver handgun and fired at least one, and perhaps as many as three, rounds into the air before leveling the weapon. Statements by witnesses vary on whether Figueroa-Cook actually fired into the crowd, although several bystanders and officers believe he did. A .357-caliber Magnum revolver with six spent shell casings was recovered at the scene.

Six Seattle police officers were at the club and all witnessed Figueroa-Cook accelerating up the street on the motorcycle, heard gunfire, and drew their service weapons as he approached.

Just two officers, veterans Gregory Neubert and Francis Estrada, fired their weapons — a total of seven rounds between them. The other officers held off, with most saying there were too many pedestrians in the area to safely shoot.

Kappel said officers are trained to assess their "backdrop" — what's behind their target — before they fire their weapons.

Estrada said he held his fire until the motorcycle was even with a brick wall on the other side of the street. He said he saw nobody in the vicinity.

Neubert held his fire at first because there were pedestrians gathered around a catering truck across the street. As the motorcycle approached, however, he said his line of fire cleared and he started shooting. It was his bullet that apparently passed through Figueroa-Cook's leg as he drove by, according to the documents.

It was Estrada's first shooting and Neubert's second. In 1995, Neubert shot and seriously wounded a man who pointed a gun-shaped cigarette lighter at him during an undercover drug buy at a downtown McDonald's restaurant.

In 2001, Neubert's partner shot and killed Aaron Roberts after Neubert claimed Roberts dragged him down the street after a traffic stop. The shooting outraged the African-American community, which called for Neubert's firing.

Last year, Neubert and another officer were involved in the controversial arrest of a drug dealer who claimed they roughed him up and planted evidence on him. The department's auditor determined the officers lied in their reports, but they were exonerated of other wrongdoing.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com