Troy Meade Still On Leave

Diana Hefley, a reporter from the Herald, seems to still care about the Meservey case even if almost everyone else has forgotten. I use this case as an the number one example of Seattle Area police officers shooting just about everyone. This all started in Everett in June of 2009.

Meade remains on administrative leave. He's been paid nearly $93,000 while on leave. His bosses haven't conducted an internal investigation to determine if he violated any department policies. They haven't determined if there are grounds to fire him.

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Meade was acquitted in April of murder and manslaughter for the line-of-duty shooting of Niles Meservey, 51. Meservey was shot from behind June, 10, 2009 while sitting in his car outside the Chuckwagon Inn on Evergreen Way. A drunken and belligerent Meservey refused to get out of his car and drove into a metal fence. Meade told jurors that he saw the car's reverse lights come on and thought Meservey was going to run him down or injure another officer. He shot Meservey seven times.

In the second phase of the trial, under civil rules, the jury found that the shooting wasn't self-defense. That verdict meant the state didn't have to foot Meade's legal bills. Everett taxpayers, however, ended up paying for Meade's defense. City officials said Everett was on the hook for the $241,000 in legal fees because Meade was working in his official capacity as a police office at the time of the shooting.

The city also has been racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to defend against the lawsuit filed in February by Meservey's daughter. The city is accused of failing to properly train Meade. The city alleges that Meservey is responsible for his own death.

The case is set to go to trial in April. Maybe by then we'll know if Everett plans to put Meade back to work.