A Ridgefield woman who was shot by SWAT officers in June 2011 and later filed a federal lawsuit against Clark County, the city of Vancouver and individual officers will be awarded $1.8 million in a combined settlement.
Mary Lee Andison was shot in the head by police following a three-hour standoff at her home. Officers had initially responded to a report of a potentially suicidal woman. The situation escalated after police saw Andison holding a gun, which turned out to be a starter pistol that couldn’t fire a bullet.
Andison and her husband, Bruce, filed the lawsuit in June 2014 in U.S. District Court in Tacoma. It called into question the Southwest Washington Regional SWAT team’s training and operations.
The case was set for trial in January but was postponed indefinitely, because the individually named defendants appealed a judge’s Jan. 13 order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The judge’s ruling would have allowed the Andisons to go to trial on a claim of excessive use of force. They also were suing the county and city under state law on an assault claim, similar to the excessive force claim.
Efforts to reach the Andisons and their attorney, Robert Wagner of Miller & Wagner in Portland, were unsuccessful Tuesday.
‘Business decision’
Vancouver’s Assistant City Attorney Dan Lloyd, who represented the city and Vancouver police officers, said Tuesday that the defendants had “full intentions of going forward with the appeal.” However, they knew it was possible a settlement could be reached.
All of the named parties in the suit began mediation in September, he said, and had been in discussions since.
The settlement, which was reached Feb. 25, says the city and county will split the amount. However, the city’s insurance company will contribute $300,000, leaving the city to pay $600,000, according to a city staff report. The City Council approved the settlement without discussion at its Monday night meeting.
The Andisons and the county had already agreed to the settlement before it was presented to the Vancouver City Council for final approval, Lloyd said. As part of the settlement, the individually named defendants have been released from the case. Their appeal also will be terminated, he said, and the lawsuit dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.
“The settlement represents a business decision by the city in a case, in which all parties agree that Mary Lee Andison sustained serious injuries,” Lloyd wrote in a statement. “This settlement guarantees saving the substantial future expenditure of city funds and resources that would be necessary for the continued litigation of this case and provides closure to the involved officers who put their lives at risk every day performing an essential public service.”
Olympia attorney John Justice, who represented the county and county law enforcement officers, declined to comment on the settlement but confirmed the officers have been released from the suit and it will be dismissed.
Training questioned
The Andisons’ lawsuit alleged officers received insufficient training on de-escalating situations, communicating during critical incidents and dealing with people in psychological distress who are motivated to “commit suicide by cop.”
Six Clark County sheriff’s deputies and four Vancouver police officers were named. The Andisons argued police violated Mary Lee Andison’s Fourth Amendment right — the right to be free from excessive force during an arrest, investigatory stop or other seizure.
Lloyd said the settlement did not require all of the parties to agree on the facts of the case.
“The city believes that each of its officers acted reasonably and in conformance with the law,” he said in the written statement.
Mary Lee Andison’s daughter called 911 at about 1 p.m. June 24, 2011, concerned that her mother was suicidal. She called back 10 minutes later and told dispatchers that officers weren’t needed, but deputies arrived about a minute later. Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Shea found Andison in a room above the garage, separate from the rest of the house. She had a bottle of wine in one hand and a gun in the other, according to an internal investigation.
Andison told him the gun was a starter pistol that couldn’t fire a bullet, and Shea said he thought he saw the signature colored tip that indicated it wasn’t a firearm.
SWAT and a crisis negotiation team responded and tried to communicate with Andison by phone and a loudspeaker, but she refused to come out. Andison called 911 more than an hour into the standoff to say she wanted the police to leave.
The officers did not leave, however, and continued to try to contact her. They unsuccessfully tried shooting the door with a less-lethal round and shot out the windows in an attempt to get Andison’s attention.
When she finally emerged with the pistol in her hand, Vancouver police Officer Ryan Junker fired his SWAT-issued Colt Commando 223 rifle, hitting Andison in the face. Officers had ordered her to drop the weapon, but she ignored their commands, according to the investigation.
SWAT officers argued they couldn’t be sure she didn’t have a live firearm because there were other guns in the house. The internal investigation ruled the shooting was justified.
“Officer Ryan Junker’s actions were investigated and analyzed by the Clark County Major Crimes Team, Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and Vancouver Police Department Professional Standards Unit. Each determined Officer Junker’s actions to be lawful and in compliance with policy,” Lloyd said in the statement.
