Officer Gets Four Years for Killing Janitor
Karl Thompson used excessive force in subduing Otto Zehm, who was innocent of any crime
A Spokane police officer was sentenced to more than four years in prison for using excessive force against a mentally disabled janitor who died after being mistakenly suspected of stealing money from an ATM.
Spokane officer Karl F. Thompson Jr., 65, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle in the 2006 beating death of Otto Zehm, 36.
Van Sickle said he hoped the sentence would begin to bring closure to Zehm's family and to the community, which has been at odds with the city's police department as a result of this case and others. Van Sickle also ordered that Thompson be taken into custody immediately, over the objections of defense lawyers, who wanted him to remain free while the verdict is appealed.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?