There was no shortage of praise yesterday at the Seattle Police Department for the actions of two officers in a shootout with a robbery suspect in Burien over the weekend.
Efforts by Officers Daniel Espinoza, 35, and Michael Waters, 38, were described as fantastic, disciplined and professional.
On Sunday, the two surrounded and subdued Derond Potts, the armed-robbery suspect, at the Burien Center strip mall and protected bystanders, said department spokesman Duane Fish and police Chief Gil Kerlikowske.
“They did a fantastic job,” Fish said.
Kerlikowske praised Espinoza and Waters for the discipline they displayed and for protecting themselves and the public.
“I think it was a great job on their part,” the chief said.
They arrested someone responsible for a violent crime and successfully used tactics that blocked the man’s path to nearby businesses, Kerlikowske said.
Potts, 22, of Tukwila, was in satisfactory condition yesterday at Harborview Medical Center, where he was under guard. He was shot in the left shoulder and the lower left back.
Both officers are on paid administrative leave, as is routine in police shootings. Waters has been with the force for nine years, Espinoza three.
It all started about 1 p.m. Sunday when a man robbed the Subway sandwich shop at 2727 Fourth Ave. S. and fled with about $100 from the shop, plus a wallet and a checkbook from a customer.
Employees tripped an alarm. A short time later, police saw a man fitting the robber’s description driving a car — which had been stolen — and gave chase along Highway 509. The pursuit ended when Potts drove into a dead end near Dunkin Donuts at the Burien strip mall.
That’s where the good police work started, Fish said.
Waters stopped traffic moving on First Avenue South and stayed there to block any escape in that direction, Fish said. He used his patrol car as a shield.
Espinoza positioned himself off to Potts’ side between parked cars. That offered Espinoza protection and blocked the path to customers in the doughnut shop, Fish said.
A third officer blocked the way to a sandwich shop that had customers inside.
When Potts got out of the car, he fired one shot in Waters’ direction. Waters and Espinoza fired two to three times each, Fish said. Espinoza was somewhat behind Potts, and preliminary information indicates only his shots hit Potts.
Once he’s released from the hospital, Potts will be booked for investigation of assault and robbery, Fish said.
The car Potts was driving had been stolen earlier in the day near SeaTac, Fish said. Officers also found in Potts’ possession the checkbook and wallet taken from the customer at the Subway shop, police said. A semiautomatic pistol police think Potts used also was recovered at the scene.
Potts apparently grew up in Charlotte, N.C., where he started accumulating an arrest record at age 15, police there said. Between 1995 and 1999, his arrests included one over an armed robbery, three over auto theft, two over larceny and two over telephone threats, said Keith Bridges, a spokesman for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Department.
Some in Seattle’s African-American community have been critical of the Seattle Police Department for shootings involving African Americans, saying an inordinate number of black men have been shot by officers.
Potts is African American, as is Waters. Espinoza is Hispanic.