My Everett News has obtained the 10 page rebuttal by officer Troy Meade in response to his firing by Everett Police Chief Jim Scharf. My Everett News obtained the rebuttal thru the Everett Police Officer’s Association. The Association provided it as response to my request for comment on Meade’s firing. The EPOA also informed me that in addition to Everett Police Chief Kathy Atwood’s denial of the union’s grievance, the Everett City administration has also already denied the grievance and the process is now moving to the Everett Police Officer’s Association grievance committee. That committee is made up of five officers out of the 160+ members of the EPOA. Each member of the committee will review the grievance and Meade’s rebuttal. They will then vote on whether to uphold the grievance and take it to binding arbitration or not challenge the firing. The EPOA advised me that once the grievance process was completed they would be able to make further comment.
Troy Meade cites several reasons in his rebuttal why he should be re-instated.
Regarding the jury that found him not guilty of the criminal charges determining that his use of force was lawful… “The Jury had to make their decision without all of the information they had requested”
Regarding violation of the Everett PD’s use of force policy…”I fully believed that Officer Klocker and myself were in imminent danger of being ran over by a high powered sports car, operated by an extremely uncooperative and intoxicated male. Tests later showed his blood alcohol content to be .026 or greater.”
Regarding his Training and Experience as cited in his dismissal letter… “The letter I received also reviews “Training and Experience” In the letter it is stated that I have ‘received 40 hours annually of refresher courses that included segments focused on defensive tactics and handgun skills training.’ The actual time segment spent on defensive tactics is approximately 5 hours annually of the 40 hours. The last 2 times I have attended these refresher courses, the defensive tactics segment consisted of riot control training that was limited to marching in formation as a team. Five hours a year on defensive tactics is insufficient. Furthermore in all of the academy training, the 5 hour annual training, and the fire arms training, not once have we trained on getting an uncooperative, intoxicated male out of a locked car. We were however, trained NOT to reach into a car with a running engine and to NOT try to grab the keys or the individual this could result in our being dragged by the car, and it exposes our gun to the suspect.”
Regarding the time it took (21 seconds) for the incident to escalate…
“During the 21 seconds from the time I ‘closed the air’ to the time I reported ‘shots fired’ a lot of events took place.
1. I told Mr. Meservey three times to ‘Turn off the engine and get out of the car” each time waiting for him to respond to each command. Each time he responded verbally with swearing or “why the fuck should I?”
2. Mr. Meservey reached for the gear shift.
3. I applied the two taser applications, according to the taser download recording; this took place over 11 seconds.
4. Mr. Meservey manages to put the car in gear.
5. The car is driven forward and crashes into the chain link fence.
6. The car starts reversing toward me.
7. I fire my weapon.
8. I tried to get on my radio but realized I had a taser in one hand and my pistol in the other. I then looked around for a place to set my taser so I could use my radio, and placed my taser on the rear bumper of the SUV next to the corvette.
9. I got on the radio and advised that shots were fired.
This is a lot of activity in 21 seconds. If you are sitting in a quiet room and timing off 21 seconds it can seem like a long time. However, that was not the case. There was a lot of activity and actions that occurred within that 21 seconds on June 10, 2009. Each of my actions was a reaction to Mr. Meservey’s actions.”
You can read the entire 10 page rebuttal submitted by Officer Troy Meade by clicking the link below.
If you plan on reproducing it please provide credit and link to MyEverettNews.com. My Everett News has asked the city of Everett for a copy of the Mayor’s denial of the grievance but has received no answer to that request. (SEE UPDATE BELOW) We also asked for a copy of this rebuttal and were told it could not be provided until on or before July 25th. Since the Everett Police Officer’s Association provided it yesterday, we’re publishing it here today so you can hear Officer Meade’s side of the story. If you need to compare for reference, here is a link, courtesy of The Seattle Times, to the full 9 page copy of the termination letter sent to Troy Meade on June 22nd from Everett Police Chief Jim Scharf. Now the five members of the Everett Police Officer’s Association grievance committee will review the letter from Chief Scharf and the rebuttal from Officer Troy Meade and will decide whether to proceed to binding arbitration or drop the grievance. After reading both, what would you do?
UPDATE 12:00pm. City of Everett Public Information Officer Kate Reardon just sent me the EPOA’s request to the Mayor that was dated Thursday July 7th and the city’s denial of the grievance which was dated Friday July 8th. Here they are…
July 12, 2011
Everett, Everett Government, Police Blotter