Judge sets $100,000 bail for man accused of driving at Tumwater officer in Safeway parking lot
The man accused of driving a pickup toward a Tumwater police officer who then shot four rounds into the pickup in a supermarket parking lot Wednesday evening appeared in Thurston County Superior Court Thursday afternoon.
Judge John Skinder found probable cause to charge Jose L. Diaz with first-degree assault and set bail at $100,000, stating concern that Diaz could commit a violent crime if released and that he doesn’t have ties to the area.
Diaz, 20, lives in Gilroy, California, with his father, according to court documents.
The prosecutor’s statement of probable cause includes that Diaz told detectives he drove here in one day and stopped in Portland to ask for help but was denied. He meant to get to Washington, D.C., to contact the FBI, the statement reads, but ended up in Washington state instead.
The statement also provides a narrative of what happened Wednesday evening:
About 5:40 p.m. Wednesday, Tumwater responded to a call of a suicide threat at Safeway in the 500 block of Cleveland Avenue Southeast.
Diaz had called 911 dispatch and said his family was being threatened by a cartel, according to the statement, and that he feared for his safety and the safety of others. He wanted to speak with the FBI, because he didn’t trust police.
He contacted the FBI, according to the statement, and an examiner relayed communications to dispatchers, saying Diaz was “suicidal” and had a handgun and knife in the vehicle. Later, Diaz told detectives he had been “bluffing” that he had a gun, according to the statement, and thought saying he had one would “help get officers to shoot him.”
Whether he actually had a knife isn’t included in the statement. However, Olympia Police Lt. Paul Lower, who is serving as spokesperson for the multi-agency investigation into the officer-involved shooting, told The Olympian witnesses and officers report seeing Diaz holding a knife throughout the incident.
Officers arrived at the parking lot Wednesday evening with a goal of trying “to talk him out of the suicide” and concerned about the weapons Diaz reportedly had in his possession, Tumwater police spokesperson Laura Wohl told The Olympian Wednesday night.
According to the prosecutor’s statement, he was making what it characterizes as “paranoid statements” that were relayed to dispatch via the FBI.
“The FBI also noted that Diaz had mentioned ‘suicide by cop’ two times,” the statement reads.
Tumwater officers found Diaz in an early-2000s Toyota Tacoma pickup parked in the lot and tried to make contact with him before he started driving erratically around the lot, according to the statement. A press release from Olympia Police states that officers had been negotiating with Diaz while escorting bystanders out of the area.
Most entrances to the lot were blocked by police vehicles.
A video shared with The Olympian by a witness who was inside the store shows a green pickup truck circling and weaving through the parking lot, followed by a police cruiser, with several other police vehicles and officers visible on foot at various points.
Diaz drove laps around the parking lot and hit speeds estimated at 30-40 miles per hour, the statement reads, before a Thurston County Sheriff’s deputy laid out a spike strip that damaged the pickup’s passenger-side tires.
Diaz continued to circle then turned and “drove at” a Tumwater officer standing in the lot, the statement reads. As he drove near where the officer was standing, the officer fired four rounds into his pickup, according to the statement.
The video provided to The Olympian does not visually capture the full scene the moment shots were fired or immediately before. The pickup can be seen driving in the direction of the store, then turning quickly left before gunshots are heard.
One shopper, Tammi Bond, told The Olympian she was near the supermarket’s sliding glass doors during the incident Wednesday. She said the driver swerved and it “looked like he was going to hit one of the officers,” before the officer jumped out of the way, turned, and shot at the truck as it passed.
Diaz stopped the pickup and stayed there for about an hour, according to the prosecutor’s statement, until Thurston County SWAT eventually detained him.
Medics evaluated him at the scene, and he was found to have a “very minor injury” to the head, Wohl told The Olympian Wednesday. None of the bullets hit Diaz, according to the statement, but police have not confirmed whether his injuries were related to the gunshots. No officers were injured.
Booking records show Lacey Police arrested Diaz on suspicion of first-degree assault about 8:30 p.m.
In a police interview, Diaz allegedly told detectives he drove his pickup at the officer “in order to force the officer to shoot him” and that he thought his death would protect his family from the cartel.
A pretrial report said Diaz has a history of mental health treatment and is interested in behavioral health treatment services. He has no known criminal history beyond a driving-under-the-influence conviction in California for which he is currently on probation.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Scott Jackson requested Judge Skinder set bond at $500,000 Thursday, stating he believed Diaz was likely to commit a violent offense based on the allegations.
“The facts of this case are extremely disturbing,” Jackson said, before detailing much of the account of events in the prosecutor’s statement of probable cause.
Defense Attorney Christian Cabrera agreed the allegations are “disturbing,” but said the disturbing part of the case is that “they know they’re dealing with someone with a mental health issue, and the way to address that is to pin him in, and then place yourself in a position of jeopardy so you have to fire upon someone with mental health issues.”
Cabrera requested Diaz be evaluated and considered for release on personal recognizance with electronic monitoring, or at least be subject to a mental-health evaluation before release.
If Diaz posts bail, he’s required to return to court for further conditions of his release. His arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 4.
The officer who shot his weapon has been at Tumwater Police Department for two years, according to an OPD press release, and is on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the multi-agency Capitol Metro Independent Investigative Team. Lacey Police Department is leading that investigation.
Suicide hotline
If you or someone you know is struggling, The Crisis Clinic of Thurston and Mason Counties operates a confidential, anonymous crisis intervention hotline 24 hours a day, every day of the year at 360-586-2800.
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 9:18 AM.
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