By Matt Ferner

Three Washington officers who shot and killed a Mexican farmworker last February “did not violate Department policies and procedures,” an internal investigation from the Pasco Police Department found Wednesday. 

Officers Adam Wright and Adrian Alaniz will return to duty immediately, the Pasco Police Department said in an emailed statement. The third officer involved in the fatal shooting, Ryan Flanagan, has since left the the department.

“We have exhaustively reviewed this incident, and my decision to return the officers to duty was founded on the determination that their actions were consistent with Department policies and procedures,” Pasco Police Chief Robert Metzger said in a statement that accompanied the release of the internal investigation findings. 

The fatal shooting of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, a 35-year-old former orchard worker, by police officers on Feb. 10 in Pasco was captured on a widely seen video. The killing sparked protests in the small southeastern Washington town. The Mexican government condemned the shooting, calling it a “disproportionate use of lethal force.”

According to the internal investigation reports, officials found that citizen statements corroborated those made by the officers involved; the officers “exhibited conciliatory demeanor as long as they were able to do so safely”; less-lethal force was deployed with no obvious effect on Zambrano-Montes; and that the deadly force used by the officers was “consistent” with department policies.

The internal criminal investigation of the shooting was completed by the Tri-City Special Investigations Unit, which was comprised of investigators from multiple law enforcement agencies, excluding Pasco Police Department. An additional investigation and report was also completed by Police Policy Studies Council of Spofford, New Hampshire.

Rick Rios, chairman of Consejo Latino, a group calling for police reform, said the investigation’s findings came as no surprise.

“The police investigated themselves and when they were finished they cleared themselves of …read more

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