City settles lawsuit filed by woman struck by stray bullet

The city of Seattle has paid $127,500 to settle a lawsuit filed by a nanny who claimed she was hit by a bullet fired by a negligent police officer during a shootout outside a downtown nightclub in 2005, according to the woman's lawyer.

Cristin Kellner was a 19-year-old au pair from Germany who was with friends outside Belltown Billiards as it closed early Sept. 23, 2005, when two Seattle police officers opened fire on a man on a motorcycle who was firing a handgun. Kellner claimed she was struck by a bullet fired by police, who she said were negligent for firing with so many pedestrians in the area.

The lawsuit also claimed that the city was negligent for employing one of the officers involved — Gregory Neubert, a decorated patrolman who was at the center of a controversy over officer discipline when a police auditor determined he and his partner had lied in reports over the arrest of a street-level drug dealer and failed to book a small amount of marijuana into evidence.

Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr said the city offered the settlement because of the risks posed by taking the case to a jury.

Kellner was an innocent bystander, and who fired the shot that struck her "would have been the issue at trial," Carr said.

"There was a significant risk a jury might find one of the officers was responsible," he said.

There were at least six officers outside the club that night when a man who had been thrown out of the bar earlier that evening, Francisco Figueroa-Cook, returned on a motorcycle and fired a handgun into the air and, possibly, into the crowd, according to witnesses.

Only two officers, Neubert and Francis Estrada, returned fire, according to a copy of the department's review of the shooting obtained by The Seattle Times.

The other officers said there were too many pedestrians in the area for them to safely fire their weapons, according to the review.

The officers fired a total of seven times. Figueroa-Cook was struck, apparently by a round fired by Neubert, and his motorcycle crashed into a car. He recovered from his injuries and went to prison for assault.

Kellner, who was standing with friends on the south side of Blanchard Street near Western Avenue, was hit by a bullet that fragmented when it hit one of her vertebrae, breaking a rib. A large piece of the slug wound up in her lung, where it remains because it would be too dangerous to remove it, said her attorney, Frank Shoichet.

That has also made it impossible to determine whether Figueroa-Cook or one of the officers fired the round that hit her.

The case was settled during mediation about two weeks ago. Shoichet believes the city's willingness to settle the case "for a significant sum" reflected its concerns about its case.

A police-shooting review board found the officers' actions were necessary to stop Figueroa-Cook, who board members determined posed a significant threat to the community. Former Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske endorsed those findings.

The board said it could not determine who fired the shot that hit Kellner.

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 2007, 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. Neubert was not disciplined.

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