Open Letter To The Community From Pastor Paul A. Stoot, Jr.

Alleged Unjust Treatment Of African American Pastor In Snohomish CountyEditor’s Note: The following is a statement by Rev. Paul A. Stoot, Jr., pastor of Greater Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in Everett regarding an incident with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department. The statements outlined below are the accounts and allegations drafted by Rev. Stoots in its entirety EXCEPT FOR AS NOTED. Some names have been removed from the statement to protect the privacy of individuals who have allegations levied against them. Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick is African American. On Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at approximately 8:45 p.m., I received an emergency phone call at the church informing me that the apartment of a 77 year old member of my church, had been engulfed in a fire. The caller didn’t know the status or whereabouts of [the member of my church]. We had just finished Bible Study that [the member] had attended and I was engaged in some follow-up conversations with various members when the call came in. Since my own father’s death in 2006, [the church member] has been an adoptive or surrogate father to me, so I was instantly in a state of near panic. I grabbed another member of the church, [church member #2], and immediately set out to [the church member’s] home to see what had happened and to see if I could locate [him]. [The church member] lives in [addressed withheld by The Medium] in Everett, just a few blocks from the church, so we arrived fairly quickly. We went South on 4th Ave W, turned right on 124th St SW and discovered a police car blocking the way at the intersection of 124th St SW and 8th Ave W so that you could not go any further past 8th Ave west on 124th St SW because of where the police car was parked. I had been driving, so I pulled my vehicle (Black Cadillac Escalade) up just before the officer’s car and jumped out. As I exited the vehicle, I told [church member #2] to move the vehicle to a spot that was out of the way because I saw the officer and didn’t want my vehicle blocking other emergency vehicles. As I moved toward [my church member’s] apartment, a Snohomish County Sheriff Deputy told to me to move the truck. I informed him that it was being moved and that I was going to check on a member of my church. He then yelled again that I was going to have to move my truck. I again informed him that it was being moved as we spoke. By this time, [church member #2] was in the driver’s seat and preparing to move the truck. The officer again yelled that he had told me to move the truck and to go back and do it. I again told him that the truck was already being moved and that I needed to go and see about [my church member] because I had received a 911 call for his aid as I am his emergency contact. As we finished this exchange, [church member #2] was moving my truck. At no time in this initial exchange did I raise my voice, lose my temper at all, or act in a confrontational or disrespectful manner toward this officer. He let me pass and I went to find out about [the member of my church]. Upon arriving at [his] apartment, the fire trucks were beginning to pack up and clear their items out. I was approached by the commander on the scene to see if I knew the resident. I informed him that I did. He then informed me that they had not seen him and did not know where he was, but that if I found him, I should let them know immediately. I looked at the apartments across the parking lot and saw someone waving to me from a neighboring apartment. Recognizing them as one of [my church member’s] neighbors, I went over to see if they knew where he was. She waved me in and told me that [he] was inside. As I approached him, [he] was sitting in their living room looking very despondent and understandably nervous. She asked me to sit with him. As [he] has a history of heart problems, my immediate concern was to make sure that he was okay. I went out to inform the fire commander that I had found him and ask if someone could take a look at him to make sure he was okay. As I exited the apartment, I also placed a call to [church member #2] to make sure that he had moved the truck and was on his way to where I was. As I was calling him, he said that he was walking up. He was approximately 15 yards from me as we finished the call. Another several yards behind him was the officer that I had spoken to originally. That officer had been joined by another and they were moving my direction. I stopped to ask [church member #2] about the vehicle and make sure that all was okay there where that was concerned. He informed me it was. I wanted to get a card from the officer that I had had the initial encounter with, so I approached the two officers that had been behind [church member #2]. The officer was very confrontational and informed me that I had been yelling at him when I’d first arrived and he had told me to move my truck. I told the other officer, again in a very calm voice, that I hadn’t raised my voice or yelled at him at all, nor was I trying to be at all confrontational. His response was to tell me that I needed to talk to the original officer, not him. My response was to tell the second officer that I just wanted him to notice that I wasn’t raising my voice or being confrontational. At this point, the original officer told me to turn around and put my hands behind my back – that he was placing me under arrest. Naturally I asked why. His response was that I was being arrested for “Obstruction of Justice”. My only response was to tell him that I wanted to speak to my lawyer. He started to walk me over to his patrol car. One of them said that they would walk me over there and give me a citation and that would be the end of it. As I was being walked over to the patrol car, I quietly told [church member #2], who was walking alongside me, what the password was to my phone and told him to immediately try to get in touch with [MY ATTORNEY]. My only thought is that the officer must have heard this. As the officers finished walking me to the car they told me that I must be drunk and that was why I was ‘acting like this’. So, as they walked me to my car, he said that he wanted to do this in a way that wouldn’t be embarrassing to me. I asked him how that was possible when a whole group of members of the church who had heard of what happened and had come to check on [my church member] had watched me be handcuffed and led to a patrol car? We arrived at the car and he opened the door and told me to get in. As I’m 6’3″ I asked if it would be possible to get some help getting in. He told me to just get in the car. I did so, with some difficulty and hit my head on the frame of the door in the process. With me sitting in the backseat, the officer sat in the front seat. The next thing I knew, I was being driven away. Upon arriving at the Snohomish County Jail the officer informs me as I get out of the car that I am going to be booked for a DUI since he can tell I had been drinking and was intoxicated. I again asked to call my lawyer. The officer who booked me told me that they would get me a public defender. I again said that I wanted to call my attorney and that his number was in my cell phone. The officer asked for the name of my attorney. I told him. He then pulled out a phone book and tried to look up the number. After a moment, he told me that there was no [NAME OF MY ATTORNEY] in the phone book. I again asked for my cell phone. Reluctantly, they gave me my cell phone and I tried, without luck, to contact [MY ATTORNEY]. They again told me that they would have to get me a court appointed attorney and that they were going to have me take a breathalyzer test. After discussing my options with the court appointed attorney, I agreed to take the breathalyzer test. I ended up taking the test twice and both times, the test showed that I had NO ALCOHOL in my system at all. While in to take the breathalyzer test, the witnessing officer [ALLEGEDLY] made several remarks about ‘people like you’ (referring to me) being stupid for driving drunk as they referred to a picture on the wall and how a friend of his had been killed by a drunk driver and how that friend’s mother had killed herself because she was so overwrought about what had happened. When my breathalyzer showed that I had, in fact not been drinking at all, [THE OFFICER’S] only [ALLEGED] response was to roll his eyes and say, ‘Damn. That’s okay, I can still get him.’ Even though I had taken two breathalyzer tests and both tests had shown that I hadn’t been drinking at all, the arresting officer still decided to arrest and book me into jail on a count of ‘Obstruction of Justice’. As a result, I spent the night in jail since they wouldn’t allow me to call anyone to come and post my bail. Upon my release [THE NEXT] morning, when I received my personal [property] back, I discovered that not only had they kept my drivers license, but I was also [ALLEGEDLY] missing 2 $100 bills that had been in my wallet. I did not post the 2 $100 bills to my account. That gave me only $521.24 instead of $721.24.