The King County Prosecutor’s Office declined to file criminal charges against two officers who fired shots at a fleeing car in Seattle’s Eastlake neighborhood in October 2017.
The Prosecutor’s Office wrote in the decline Monday that Officers Kenneth Martin and Tabitha Sexton “bore a good-faith belief that the vehicle posed an immediate risk to the officers and the public.” The office said it believes that a jury would not find the officers had “malice or evil intent” when they fired at the car.
The officers were investigating suspicious activity that possibly involved a weapon when the shooting happened. Body cam video shows suspects in a Subaru Impreza try to ram the officers. Martin and Sexton fired several shots at the car.
Interim Seattle Police chief Carmen Best fired Martin and Sexton in July. An April review found the two officers violated the department’s use of force policies.
The officers will appeal their termination, according to the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild, the union that represents Seattle police officers.
