Lawyers representing the family of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, a 35-year-old man shot dead by police in Pasco, Washington, have criticised the “lack of objectivity” in a police investigation into his death, as the case approaches six months with no ruling on whether to charge any of three officers involved.
Zambrano-Montes, an undocumented orchard worker who migrated from Mexico around 10 years ago, was shot dead on 10 February by officers who fired 17 shots at him as he ran away from them after throwing rocks into traffic.
Eyewitness video captured the incident and appeared to show Zambrano-Montes raising his hands when police opened fire as he turned towards them. The death was investigated by a special investigation unit (SIU) comprised of police officers from neighbouring jurisdictions, who in May handed their report to the Franklin County prosecutor, Shawn Sant.
Sant will make a ruling on any criminal charges in the case and met with Zambrano-Montes’s family on Tuesday along with members of their legal team.
Jose Baez, one of those family lawyers present, told reporters at a press conference later on Tuesday that although the family expressed confidence in Sant himself, “we do have serious questions… about the investigation and its lack of objectivity”.
“I see cases across the country in which, instead of a hard-nosed independent investigation that would normally be conducted by law enforcement, it appears these types of cases, and specifically this one, are sometimes investigated in a manner that is not an investigation, but more a process of protection,” Baez said.
In particular lawyers singled out the lengthy period of time it took for the SIU to interview the three officers involved in the fatal incident.
“These officers were not interviewed in a timely fashion,” said Charles Hermann, another lawyer working for the Zambrano-Montes family. “It was weeks and weeks later when they were finally interviewed. To say those interviews were conducted … in a fair, impartial, rigorous basis, I have that same reservation, that same doubt about it.”
Both lawyers were flanked by Zambrano-Montes’s parents, Agapita Montes Rivera and Jesus Zambrano Fernandez, who also attended the meeting with Sant.
The meeting comes after one of the officers involved in the shooting, Ryan Flanagan, announced his resignation from the Pasco police department last week. Flanagan’s lawyer said the decision was unrelated to the fatal incident.
