Suicidal woman shot by deputy in 2014 sues Kitsap County

Andrew Binion | Kitsap

TACOMA — A suicidal woman who was shot by a Kitsap County sheriff's deputy in 2014 is suing the office in federal court, alleging it violated her civil rights, according to documents.

Corinna McGregor, who also uses the last name McGregor-Barth, had been armed with a gun, but had put it down before then-deputy Will Sapp shot her as other deputies spoke and awaited the arrival of a crisis negotiator.

Attorneys for McGregor say that Sapp, who has since been promoted to sergeant, was armed with an AR-15 rifle on June 9, 2014, when he shot her as she stood beside a woodpile holding a 12-inch, pink-colored vaping device. The bullet struck her in the abdomen. It did not kill her, but left her physically and emotionally traumatized, according to the suit.

The attorneys called the shooting “objectively unreasonable under the circumstances.”

“Corinna was visibly unarmed and did not pose a threat to deputies,” the attorneys wrote in the suit filed this month in U.S. District Court in Tacoma. “To the contrary, Corinna held only her bright pink e-cigarette, which in no way resembled the black pistol left behind the woodpile, when she was shot.”

The Sheriff’s Office declined to comment, as it is pending litigation. The county prosecutor’s office, which reviewed the shooting for possible charges against Sapp and is representing Sapp and the office, also declined to comment.

Prosecutor Tina Robinson said the decision to not pursue charges against Sapp, made before she took office, was because no crime was committed.

“The county needs to provide our law enforcement officers with training to deal with citizens that suffer from mental illness and depression,” Kim Zak, one of McGregor’s attorneys, wrote in an email. “Deadly force should never be used on someone that is suicidal.”

“Crisis intervention” training, meant to teach officers ways to de-escalate situations with people in the throes of mental illness, is now common among Kitsap law enforcement. But it’s not known if Sapp had undergone the training at the time or if he knew other deputies had been speaking with McGregor.

The Kitsap Sun filed a records request for documents related to the shooting, but the documents will not be immediately available.

Deputies were called to McGregor’s secluded South Kitsap house at about 5:45 p.m. for a possible domestic violence dispute, according to the suit. McGregor’s husband reported that his wife had locked herself inside the house and threatened to kill herself. Deputies were informed of McGregor’s mental health history and threats to harm herself, the suit claims.

The first deputy on the scene saw McGregor holding a pistol in her hand and he and other deputies backed off while requesting a specially-trained negotiator from the office.

The deputy then saw McGregor leave the house and stand behind a wood pile. She asked to speak to her husband, “who was uniquely capable of calming her down,” according to the suit.

About 45 minutes after deputies first responded, McGregor shot the pistol into the ground to verify the gun worked and then set it down, something the suit attributes to her “lack of experience with firearms.”

For the next 10 minutes, deputies continued talking to McGregor while she stayed hidden behind the woodpile, “expressly” promising her that she could speak to her husband if she emerged unarmed from behind the woodpile.

The suit alleges that as the deputies were speaking to McGregor, and with the negotiator “minutes away,” Sapp had taken a position 100 feet away with an AR-15 rifle.

“In reliance on … deputies’ promises to be able to speak to her husband, Corinna slowly stepped out from behind the woodpile,” according to the suit. “Corinna was holding only the bright pink e-cigarette in her left hand. Although Corinna was visibly no longer holding the pistol or anything that remotely resembled the pistol … Sapp immediately shot Corinna in the abdomen.”

About a year after the shooting, Sheriff Gary Simpson promoted Sapp to the rank of sergeant.

“For several years, Will Sapp has demonstrated his leadership skills and his ability to make a difference,” Simpson said in an October 2015 statement. “I am excited to witness his influence in making this agency the finest sheriff’s organization possible.”

Sapp started with the office in 2006, but had 18 years experience total in law enforcement at the time of his promotion.

Public interest in police shootings has been on the rise in recent years and has been prominent in local and national news this week, most notably with the shooting death of Charleena Lyles, 30, a black, mentally ill Seattle woman, killed by city police Sunday.

A Washington Post database aggregating fatal police shootings found that 460 people have been killed by police so far this year, with about 20 of them being women. Mental illness played a part in about 25 percent of the cases.

So far this year, 62 police officers have died in the line of duty, according to a website that tracks such deaths, Officer Down Memorial Page. That number includes vehicle crashes (23), boating accidents (2) and heart attacks (4).

There are other active cases against Kitsap deputies accused of unnecessarily using force. Former Deputy Matthew Hill is being sued in federal court for an incident in 2014 where he allegedly hit a man in the head with a flashlight after the man was mistaken for a fleeing suspect.

Corrections Deputy Michael Turso is being sued for injuries received by Mary Arlene Gomez, then 36, as she attempted to flee Superior Court in 2013. Turso allegedly stunned Gomez in the back with a Taser as she descended a concrete staircase, causing her to fall down stairs.

Gomez was seriously injured, requiring surgery, according to the lawsuit in U.S. District Court. She was eventually sentenced to three months in jail after being convicted of a count of second-degree organized retail theft and bail jumping.