BOTHELL, Wash. - A Bothell
police officer was suspended for one day for his involvement in a high-speed
pursuit that resulted in a fatal crash in Everett.
Police Chief Carol Cummings
said Officer Mark Atterbury should have called off the pursuit earlier.
The discipline was reported by
The Daily Herald after it sought the information through public records law.
The pursuit took place in May
2013, when Atterbury spotted a man driving a stolen pickup and pursued him for
miles through Snohomish County at speeds of up to 95 mph. During the chase, the
pickup hit the officer's patrol car and another car before heading north up
Interstate 5.
The pickup eventually turned
off I-5 at Everett, turning onto Evergreen Way and heading north, blasting
through several red lights at high speed as the officer followed with emergency
lights and sirens on.
At the intersection of Rucker
and Pacific avenues in Everett, the stolen pickup collided with a car and
killed its driver, Rachel Kamin, 40, a registered nurse who was on her way to
work.
The driver of the stolen
pickup, later identified as Joseph Strange, is charged with murder for the
death and is facing trial in October.