Olympia police chief candidate pulled gun at meeting in joke about mentally ill person
Olympia Police Sgt. Amy King, who was announced as a finalist in Olympia’s search for a new police chief last week, received two written complaints within a three-month timeframe in 2016, according to disciplinary records obtained by The Olympian.
King has been with the department for 21 years and is currently the Acting Community Policing Lieutenant, where she oversees walking patrol, neighborhood policing, K9, and traffic units.
One of the complaints details an incident where King pulled her gun out during a officer briefing and pointed it in the air while discussing a person who frustrated her.
The incident occurred while King was supervising a “graveyard” briefing with 15 officers the evening of May 21, 2016, Olympia Police Department (OPD) disciplinary files show.
According to a complaint filed by Officer Paul Evers, mid-way through the briefing King began discussing a “problem person” who King said was mentally ill and placed frequent 911 calls, taking up officers’ time.
Evers wrote that he made a joke along the lines of: “Don’t let him get your cell phone number because you will become his personal cop.”
According to Evers’ complaint, King then said “He will make you want to...,” and then pulled her gun from her holster and held the gun “head level with the barrel pointed at the ceiling.”
King then put the gun back in her holster.
“I was shocked by what I saw,” Evers wrote in the complaint. “I turned and asked Ofc. Smith [sic] if he had seen what I had seen and he replied that he had. There was an uncomfortable tension in the briefing after this.”
OPD policy states that officers “shall not use or handle weapons in a careless or imprudent manner.” The complaint was sustained, and King was issued a written warning a month later.
Sergeant King’s response
On Monday morning, The Olympian requested an interview with King. As of Wednesday morning, King had not replied.
According to the internal investigation, King was interviewed about the incident shortly after it happened and admitted to pulling her gun at the meeting, saying it was done as a joke.
“She said she was embarrassed by her actions, and knew immediately (after doing it) that it was a mistake,” wrote Lt. Rich Allen, who is listed on the report as the investigator. “She said in no way was the act of her drawing her firearm an implied threat (to herself or anyone else) and that she did it as an attempt at humor to describe her frustrations when dealing with an incident.”
According to Evers’ complaint, four of the officers who witnessed King draw her gun were firearms instructors.
King later sent an email apologizing for the incident, Evers wrote.
Three months later, King received another written warning regarding an August 20, 2016 incident where she “failed to monitor and control a [vehicular] pursuit that did not comply with Department policy.” No further details are in the file.
Status of police chief search
King is now one of three candidates remaining in the search for a new police chief.
Four finalists were announced for the job last week, but one, Derrick Turner, quickly removed himself from consideration after a journalist from The Olympia Tribune contacted the city about a 2017 incident. In that incident, Turner was reprimanded for grabbing a man by the throat when he was a sergeant in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The city subsequently announced that it was putting the search on hold. The two other candidates are Interim Chief Aaron Jelcick, as well as Sean Case, who is the Captain of Administration for the Anchorage Police Department in Alaska.
The Olympian filed a public records request in June 2020 for the department’s disciplinary records for the years of 2010-2019, which revealed the two sustained complaints against King. During that period, Jelcick was promoted three times, and the records do not indicate any misconduct complaints against him.
Both King and Jelcick have been with the department for more than 20 years, so complaints prior to 2010 would not have surfaced from the previous records request. The Olympian submitted another public records request on Monday seeking any misconduct complaints against King and Jelcick that date back before 2010.
In an email on Tuesday, the city’s public records department told The Olympian that those records will be made available by April 30.
The Olympian also has filed a request with Anchorage Police Department seeking Case’s disciplinary history. The agency confirmed they received the request, but did not estimate a date of delivery.
Additional reporting by Sara Gentzler
This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
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