Witnesses support Pasco officers’ accounts of use of deadly force

Witness accounts to February’s police shooting of a Pasco man support three officers’ statements about their decision to use lethal force, according to a report obtained by the Herald.

But the more than 1,700-page document from the Tri-City Special Investigations Unit offers no opinion on whether the shooting of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, 35, was justified.

The Herald reviewed thousands of pages of documents, including the full report, along with dozens of interviews, 911 recordings and crime scene photos yet to be released publicly.

Today, Franklin County prosecutors are expected to release more of the investigation that took nearly four months to complete.

The report includes interviews with several of Zambrano-Montes’ Tri-City relatives, who portrayed him as a troubled soul.

Documents detail his bouts with depression and drug abuse, several suicide attempts and violent run-ins with Pasco police in recent years. He had been drinking heavily and using methamphetamine more often since his wife left for California with their two daughters several years ago, according to his family.

His mental state had deteriorated so severely that his family wanted to bring the immigrant orchard worker back to his parents’ tiny remote village in Michoacan state, Mexico, in a last-ditch effort to get his life back on track.

His brother planned to visit the Tri-Cities to convince Zambrano-Montes to return home. Family members were worried about his substance abuse and well-being.

Blood tests show Zambrano-Montes was high on meth when he died. A fire, which officials believe Zambrano-Montes’ started while high on the drug, damaged the house where he was living less than three weeks before the shooting.

He hurt his hands during a fall and had not been working, reports said. He had reportedly been fired from a previous job because of his drug use and “paranoia.” His family told detectives his income was about $80 a month.

A few members of his family pleaded with him at the Tri-City Union Gospel Mission in Pasco to change his life, as his behavior spiraled out of control, the report said.

“They spoke with him for a while about getting his life turned around, and he just listened and would not respond much,” wrote Benton County Detective Lee Cantu in the report. “(A cousin) said she noticed that Antonio seemed very depressed about his state in life.”

When he was shot Feb. 10, witnesses said he was shouting at the police officers to kill him, according to part of the report released last week. Witnesses saw Zambrano-Montes throw several large rocks and chunks of concrete at the officers. One rock found near his body weighed 2.8 pounds.

Officers Ryan Flanagan, Adam Wright and Adrian Alaniz fired 17 times at Zambrano-Montes after the orchard worker became extremely aggressive and Taser probes failed to stun him. Flanagan and Alaniz claim they were hit with rocks.

“(The officers) provided an in-depth account of their perceptions, actions and the need for lethal force,” said a summary of the report. “Several citizen statements support the observations of the officers, including the aggressive behavior and threats posed by Zambrano-Montes.”

Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant will review the investigation and ultimately decide whether to criminally charge the officers. Flanagan, an eight-year veteran, recently resigned from the police force. The other two remain on paid leave. Pasco police also are conducting an internal review of the shooting.

Transcripts of the interviews with the officers were released last week. The first officer wasn’t interviewed until late April, nearly three months after the shooting.

Part of the report yet to be released to the public shows the three officers refused several requests to be interviewed sooner.

John Ziobro, an attorney for the Fraternal Order of Police, denied several requests by an SIU commander to interview the officers in the days and weeks after the shooting, documents show.

Initially, an interview was planned for March 17, but Ziobro “requested to have access to specific items from the investigation,” wrote Richland police Capt. Jeff Taylor.

Ziobro requested and received at least one video of the shooting and photos, he said. Those items also were made available to the officers and their personal attorneys.

The documents do not make clear if other information was given to the attorneys or why the interviews were delayed until late April and early May.

SIU protocol calls for any officers involved in a shooting to refrain from having access to “Internet or television coverage” prior to being interviewed, documents show. However, Wright admitted to watching Internet videos of the shooting.

The three officers told SIU investigators they fired their guns because they were concerned for the safety of the public and themselves, documents show.

Photos yet to be released show some of the officers’ bullets ended up striking a patrol car, a gas station convenience store and the outside wall of Vinny’s Bakery and Cafe.

One bullet, believed to be fired by Flanagan, went through a window into a cooler at the Metro Mart on Lewis Street, puncturing at least one plastic soda bottle and hitting a plastic garbage can near the front door, wrote Richland Detective Damon Jansen in the report.

The police investigation also tried to track where Zambrano-Montes had lived and what he was doing in the days and hours before he started throwing rocks at cars at the busy Pasco intersection.

Logs from the Union Gospel Mission show Zambrano-Montes stayed at the Pasco homeless shelter Feb. 2-9, the report said. Relatives reported seeing him around town in the weeks before and even on the day of the confrontation.

Family members who saw Zambrano-Montes on the day he died said he wasn’t acting strange and did not seem high on drugs. They told detectives they were playing soccer with him at Memorial Park in Pasco shortly before the deadly encounter.

“(A cousin) said Antonio seemed ‘mellow’ and described him as seeming ‘chill,’ ” wrote Franklin County Detective Jason Nunez.

To view more of the police investigation, go to www.tricityherald.com/pasco-shooting.

This story was originally published July 7, 2015 at 11:00 PM with the headline "Witnesses support Pasco officers’ accounts of use of deadly force."