Traffic stops and qualified immunity: How one group wants to change policing this session
Police accountability advocates are hoping to convince the 2023 Washington state legislature to limit traffic safety stops, which they say disproportionately target communities of color and low-income people, and have escalated into tragic results.
Traffic stops are just one of four priorities for the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability, which has presented its legislative priorities more a month before the 2023 session is set to begin.
WCPA members were joined at a news conference by families of people who were killed by police, as well as Rep. Drew Hansen, D-Bainbridge Island, Rep. My-Linh Thai, D-Bellevue, Sen. Rebecca Saldaña, D-Seattle, new Rep. Darya Farivar, D-Seattle, and Enoka Herat with the ACLU of Washington.
One piece of WCPA legislation sponsored by Sen. Joe Nguyen, D-West Seattle, would have two parts. First it would end low-level traffic stops for expired tabs, broken tail lights and similar violations that don’t have safety ramifications. WCPA contends this would “reduce disproportionate impacts on communities of color and low-income people” that lead to “criminal system entanglement” as well as debt and bankruptcy.
Additionally, the legislation would create grant money for cities, Tribes and nonprofits to help people pay for vehicle fixes and avoid violations. WCPA said this would not only lead to safer vehicles on the road, but it would also support low-income drivers.
Tonya Isabell’s cousin, Charleena Lyles, was shot seven times and killed by Seattle police officers Jason Anderson and Steven New in 2017 after Lyles called to report a burglary. No charges were brought against the officers who shot the pregnant mother of four, but the city of Seattle did agree to a $3.5 million settlement on behalf of Lyles’ children in a wrongful death suit.
Isabell said she supports the traffic stop bill because as a Black parent of Black children, she’s fearful every day of what could happen to her children if they get pulled over while driving.
“If they get pulled over, are they going to make it back home?” Isabell said. “Because if they reach in the glove department to get their insurance paper, or if they reach for their wallet, are they (the police) going to say they have a weapon and they end up dead? To me it’s very important that we get these laws in place to protect the lives of the children that are coming up in this world behind us.”
The WCPA also is proposing legislation to provide civil remedies for families and victims of police misconduct. The bill, sponsored by Thai, would remove qualified immunity for officers who commit violations of state civil rights. WCPA said the bill “places responsibility where it belongs: on the entity causing the harm.”
Currently, federal laws must be used to sue police officers or their departments, but families cannot sue for violations of the state constitution, according to the WCPA.
Hansen is sponsoring legislation that would give the Attorney General’s Office more authority to investigate and take action against law enforcement agencies that show a pattern of misconduct. The bill would create more oversight of police agencies and would ensure they are in line with the state constitution and state laws.
And finally, the WCPA is recommending legislation sponsored by Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, that would create a new office within the Office of Independent Investigations that would handle “charging decisions and any prosecution to ensure fair, credible, and transparent prosecutions.”
County prosecutors, who currently handle police misconduct, were found in 2020 by the Governor’s Task Force on Police Use of Deadly Force to be obstacles in prosecuting officers, according to WCPA.
The traffic stop legislation is likely to draw significant attention, and one lawmaker already has come out against it.
Rep. Gina Mosbrucker, a Republican from Goldendale and Ranking Minority Member for the House Public Safety Committee, told McClatchy that she reached out to some police agencies after seeing the proposed bill that would prevent low-level traffic stops. The agencies she spoke to were not in support.
“How does the failure to enforce these actions make families safer in Washington state?” Mosbrucker said.
As traffic fatalities surge in Washington, Mosbrucker said that the timing of the bill doesn’t make sense. At this point, she said she would not support the legislation, but she is looking forward to reading the language of the bill when it is released.
WCPA has worked with lawmakers over the past several legislative sessions on new police accountability laws such as legislation that prevents police officers from using chokeholds or neck restraints and legislation that created the Office of Independent Investigations to review incidents involving police officers.
The 105-day legislative session begins on Jan. 9.
This story was originally published December 11, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
