The Seattle King County Chapter of the NAACP is requesting that the Washington State Attorney General’s Office (AGO) conduct a criminal investigation of the police involved shooting death of Iosia Faletogo instead of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
According to the NAACP, they are looking for an independent prosecutor and independent police agency to handle the investigation in order to create dual level independence in an effort to have “a fair, transparent and thorough criminal investigation” of the incident.
“The Attorney General’s Office is the appropriate prosecuting agency for police involved shootings,” said the NAACP in a statement. “The voters of Washington State have spoken with the passage of I-940 by demandinga new process to provide independent investigations in police involved shootings. The AGO doesnot have a symbiotic relationship with the Seattle Police Department (SPD) and the AGO has thecapacity to conduct a thorough investigation.”
“Justice requires an independent criminal investigation supervised by the Office of the Attorney General for the following reasons: 1) An inquest is not a criminal investigation. 2) There is an inherent conflict of interest when the investigating agency works closely with the agency under investigation. 3) SPD has already taken steps towards independence, supported by the Consent Decree. 4) Community trust is required to ensure officer and public safety,” the statement continued.
In addition, the NAACP claims that the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has “never exercised its authorityto call for a criminal investigation of police-involved shootings in over a decade of being inoffice.”
The NAACP does not favor the inquest process because they believe “it falls short of delivering justice.”
“The inquest process is misleading as the public expects a legitimate criminal investigation but does not receive one,” says the NAACP. “The Inquest’s inability to answer the critical question of criminal liability creates a lengthy process with no substance which is no more useful than a coroner’s report.”
In addition, the NAACP claims there is a conflict of interest that exists between theKing County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and the SPD.
According to the NAACP, SPD’s Office of Professional Accountability (OPA) recommended an independent criminal investigation into Faletogo’s death be led by an agency other than SPD. Seattle Police Chief Best followed the recommendation of the OPA and requested the Washington State Patrol (WSP) handle the investigation.
The NAACP says that they are urging the Prosecutors Office to avoid an inherent conflict of interest and follow Chief Best’s lead by agreeing to allow the investigation go to an independent authority.
The NAACP says that in addition to the Faletogo case, they are also requesting thatAGO lead criminal investigations into the officer involved shooting deaths of Charleena Lyles, Che Taylor, and Tommy Le.
