Snohomish County to pay family of man who died in police struggle $1.75 million

EVERETT — Snohomish County will pay $1.75 million to the spouse of a Tulalip tribal member who died while struggling with police.

The payment settles a lawsuit over allegations that officers used excessive force on Cecil Lacy Jr. when they held him down, even as he told them he couldn’t breathe, The Seattle Times reported.

The lawsuit had been summarily dismissed by a state judge and then unanimously reinstated last year by the Washington Court of Appeals.

The lawsuit questioned the independence of an investigation into Lacy’s death done by the Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team and alleged the detectives, the county medical examiner and prosecutors conspired with a union-appointed attorney to leave Lacy’s last words — “I can’t breathe” — out of investigative documents.

The Lacy family’s attorney, Gabe Galanda, had requested an independent investigation but Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson declined, saying the death happened before the passage of Initiative 940.

The measure, passed in 2019, reformed laws surrounding police use of deadly force. Gov. Jay Inslee has since said he will encourage a review of the deaths of Lacy and Stonechild Chiefstick by a new agency established by the Legislature to investigate and review all deaths by members of law enforcement.

“This is a big victory for our family,” Sara Lacy said on Tuesday. “We have been fighting for six years, in and out of court, to obtain justice.”