PASCO– Three police officers in Pasco who fatally shot a rock-throwing Mexican immigrant in February will not face criminal charges, a prosecutor announced Wednesday, saying there was no evidence the officers acted with malice.
The death of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, 35, was captured on cellphone video and sparked months of protests in Pasco, an agricultural center in Eastern Washington. Witnesses said Zambrano-Montes fought with an officer, threw rocks and repeatedly told officers to kill him before they opened fire.
At a news conference repeatedly interrupted by protesters Wednesday, Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant said the evidence showed that the officers used legal force as they tried to arrest a man who had assaulted them and was threatening to attack them further. Sant said he could not meet the high bar for criminal prosecution under Washington state law, which requires a showing that the officers acted with malice and without good faith that their actions were justified.
“The officers used legal force to prevent injuries to themselves and others,” the prosecutor said. “Certainly there is no evidence of malice.”
The shooting occurred Feb. 10 in a busy intersection as Zambrano-Montes, high on meth, threw rocks at police. They tried unsuccessfully to subdue him with a stun gun, then, after he threw a rock at an officer’s head, Officer Adam Wright shot, striking him in the arm, Sant said. The three officers then chased him across a street.
Video of the shooting showed the officers following Zambrano-Montes, then firing a second volley of shots as he turned to face them. Wright told investigators the man was transferring a rock from his left hand to his right, apparently preparing to throw again. At least one video shows movements consistent with that description, and investigators said a rock weighing nearly 3 pounds was found by Zambrano-Montes’ body.
The shooting helped fuel a national debate over police use of force following several high-profile killings by police, including those of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in New York.
Protesters expressed outrage that the officers had fired 17 times in a busy intersection in an effort to stop a man who was armed only with a rock, and who appeared to be suicidal and under the influence of drugs.
The Pasco Police Department said Wednesday it has nearly completed an internal review of the shooting, which prompted it to increase crisis-intervention training for its officers, launch efforts to recruit more Spanish-speaking officers and improve its communication with the local Hispanic community.
Zambrano-Montes was an out-of-work orchard worker who was in the country illegally and who had had several run-ins with police. In one case, he cut his forehead with a knife and asked officers to kill him. In another, just weeks before his death, Wright — the same officer who shot him — dragged him away from a fire at his small rental home.
Gov. Jay Inslee immediately asked Attorney General Bob Ferguson to review the charging decision, saying he would have wanted the decision reviewed whichever way it went.
“I want to ensure that people have confidence and trust in the decision that is made in this case,” Inslee wrote in a letter to the attorney general. “It is critical that, in the wake of this tragic incident, the communities and leaders of the city of Pasco and Franklin County come together and continue their healing.”
