Convicted Tri-Cities felon accused of killing Everett officer, then running him over
A man accused of killing an Everett police officer on Friday has a decades-long history of crime in the Tri-Cities, likely playing a role in the deadly confrontation.
When the officer spotted Richard J. Rotter moving guns from one car to another in a Starbucks parking lot, he soon learned that Rotter was wanted on two Benton County warrants, according to the Everett Daily Herald.
And the 50-year-old suspect is not legally allowed to have guns because of his felony convictions.
Cellphone video showed Rotter wrestling with Officer Dan Rocha after the officer tried to arrest him. They fell to the ground where Rotter pulled out a handgun and fired twice at Rocha’s head, said the Herald.
Rotter then left the officer’s body behind a Mini Cooper that he was driving. He got into the car, backed over Rocha’s body and drove out of the parking lot, the Daily Herald reported.
Minutes after speeding off, Rotter hit a van and another car. He was arrested soon after.
Police investigators found that Rocha, 41, did not fire his gun.
Rotter is currently being held on $5 million bail in Snohomish County jail on suspicion of first-degree murder and second-degree illegal gun possession.
At the time, Rotter was wanted for a July 2 hit-and-run and a Dec. 7 domestic violence assault in Benton County.
But those were only the latest warrants for a man who spent much of his adult life in trouble with the law.
Tri-Cities criminal history
The earliest crimes date back to when he was a teen in the mid-1980s, and once he became an adult he had 19 convictions, all but one in Benton and Franklin counties.
Court records show Rotter has a 30-year-old drug conviction in Snohomish County, but his connection to that area is not clear.
Other than a conviction for an assault in 1993, most of Rotter’s crimes have not been violent, show court records.
He has seven convictions for drug possession and five for attempting to run from police.
In a 2019 escape, Rotter was wanted after he skipped out on probation for drug possession. A Richland detective spotted him and notified the U.S. Marshals Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force, according to a Tri-City Herald story at the time.
When police surrounded Rotter at a Shell station on Goethals Drive in Richland, he backed into a police car to escape.
About six years earlier, he rammed another police car to escape members of the U.S. Marshals Task Force. This time in Pasco, the Tri-City Herald reported.
A year before that, he was wanted for skipping out on court hearings while facing charges of possession of oxymorphone, heroin, malicious mischief and forgery.
Everett shooting
A memorial fund has been set up to support Rocha’s family, Everett police said. All of the donations are going to help the officer’s wife and two children.
Police Chief Dan Templeman said Rocha was highly respected and well-liked and loved serving the people in his community.
“There are no words to make sense of this tragedy or to ease the pain for Officer Rocha’s grieving family,” Templeman said in a written statement on the city’s website.
“Officer Rocha was a loving husband and father and a role model for his two sons. They should be very proud of their dad, as he gave the ultimate sacrifice protecting our community,” he said.
This story was originally published March 29, 2022 at 12:28 PM.