There’s a $3 million suit stemming from Three Grays Harbor County cities whose police departments formed a SWAT-like “critical response unit” filed by the family of an emotionally disturbed Montesano man who was shot and killed while trying to surrender to dozens of officers who had surrounded his home. Patrick Easton West was shot and killed by an officer from the Aberdeen Regional Crisis Response Team who stormed his home after he was suffering an emotional crisis.
Patrick Easton West, who had no criminal history but suffered from mental health issues according to his family, had barricaded himself in a small manufacturing shop in the basement of his home. He did not have a firearm, but had been seen carrying a metal bar with tape on one end, which police later described as a “makeshift sword.”During the entire incident, West’s wife and parents were nearby, said the family’s lawyer, Tim Ford, and begged law enforcement to leave West alone and let the situation calm down. They heard the shots and saw police pull a bleeding West from the workshop. The lawsuit states West was the father of a 9-year-old daughter.
Montesano Mayor Vini Samuel, in a statement issued through the city’s attorney in the matter, Thomas Nedderman, said that “Anytime a person dies and law enforcement is involved, it’s a tragedy.
“Our condolences to the family and to the officers involved,” the mayor said. “We work hard to keep Montesano a safe place to live, and it has been almost 30 years since our community suffered any form of violent death absent suicide. “Our goal is always to protect all members of the public by focusing on preventing such incidents and we will continue working toward that goal through training, accountability, transparency and community policing,” Samuel said.
