By Scott Gutierrez
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
SEATTLE — A South Dakota grand jury has begun hearing testimony in the case of an off-duty Seattle police officer who shot and wounded a Hells Angels biker over the weekend during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, authorities said Monday. Sturgis police investigators forwarded most of their case to the Meade County State’s Attorney’s Office, Police Chief Jim Bush said. A grand jury convened Sunday to hear testimony from witnesses, including off-duty officers from Seattle, he said.
“There are probably several hours of testimony that have to be presented yet,” he said.
The shooting happened about 1 a.m. Saturday at the Loud American Roadhouse, a popular Sturgis bar where as many as 500 people had gathered, after a fight broke out between Hells Angels members and vacationing Seattle police officers who were at the rally. Five off-duty officers were at the bar and belong to the Iron Pigs, a motorcycle club of law enforcement and firefighters that has chapters in 22 states.
The wounded biker was identified Monday as a 33-year- old man from Imperial Beach, Calif., according to the Rapid City Journal. State’s Attorney Jesse Sondreal told the paper that man was in stable condition at a local hospital.
Law enforcement sources identified the shooter as a 43-year-old Seattle detective who works in the pawnshop unit and is a member of the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild board. The Seattle P-I is not naming either man because no criminal charges have been filed. Nor has any disciplinary action been taken against this officer over the incident.
Sources said the skirmish started because the officers were displaying their colors or patches of their club, prompting a confrontation.
A Meade County grand jury heard from 25 witnesses Sunday about the shooting, reportedly the first in 18 years in city limits during the Sturgis rally. Sondreal, the prosecutor, told the Rapid City Journal that the investigation could continue until Aug. 27, when the grand jury reconvenes.
Sondreal did not return the P-I’s calls Monday seeking comment.
There was no word on what charges the grand jury was considering.
Federal law allows off-duty police officers to carry their weapons across state lines. But South Dakota state law prohibits bringing a concealed weapon into a bar, though the law exempts police officers carrying concealed weapons in the “performance of their duties.” Sgt. Rich O’Neill, the Seattle police guild president, said Sunday that the officer was jumped and beaten and fired in self-defense. O’Neill said the officer feared for his safety during an unprovoked attack that might have involved choking.
Meanwhile, many in the Seattle Police Department feared reprisals from the Hells Angels against the officers involved or others. One source expected the department to post officer safety bulletins about the incident, reminding officers to take extra precautions.
Internal records show the detective has been disciplined for unprofessional behavior in the past. He was suspended for two days for conduct unbecoming of an officer after an incident at a Seahawks football game in January 2005.
The officer, who then was working security, arrested a fan who he said had assaulted him, but witnesses said the officer had taunted the crowd and got hit accidentally by a megaphone that the fan was holding, according to department records.
He received a written reprimand after he was accused in August 2005 of threatening to shoot a man at a Tacoma bar while off-duty. Internal records show that the man was bothering some of the officer’s friends. But witnesses also heard the officer utter a racial remark at the restaurant manager, who had asked him to leave, according to department records.
Two Tacoma officers who investigated the incident noted that the detective did not appear intoxicated.
The officer and four others who were at the Sturgis bar have been reassigned while the investigation is pending. The Seattle Police Department sent a team of investigators, including an Office of Professional Accountability sergeant, to monitor the investigation.
Many businesses in Sturgis ban biker clubs from displaying colors or patches during the rally to prevent violence.
Local, state and federal authorities aided in the South Dakota investigation, including the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said Bush, the police chief.
Copyright 2008 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer