Attorney: First review of in-custody death cleared Tucson police officers involved

The three Tucson police officers who resigned last week over an in-custody death in April were cleared to return to the work almost immediately, and remained on duty for nearly two months before they were notified of their impending dismissal, the lawyer for the police union said.

Attorney Mike Storie says he wants Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus to publicly explain why TPD found no need to put the officers on desk jobs or administrative leave after the incident occurred, yet now says they are unfit for the job.

Storie, who represents the Tucson Police Officers Association, maintains the officers effectively had no choice but to resign. He said Magnus became set on firing them after the City Council recently learned of the in-custody death, which TPD failed to publicly disclose at the time it occurred.

“The Tucson Police Department command staff hijacked the internal investigation to ensure an outcome that would please the mayor,” Storie said.

Mayor Regina Romero called Storie’s claim “unsubstantiated, deceptive and baseless.

“It is unfortunate that Mr. Storie is focused on cooking up unfounded conspiracy theories rather than acknowledging the deeply troubling events that led up to the death of Carlos Adrian Ingram-Lopez,” Romero said in an email Saturday.

But the mayor was critical of the police chief’s failure to let city officials know that the officers who resigned were initially cleared to return to work and kept working for months after Ingram-Lopez’s death on April 21.

“Chief Magnus owes the mayor and council and the public an explanation on this and many other aspects of this case and how it was handled internally by TPD,” she said.

Magnus said he took action against the officers because it was warranted. The chief said he’s limited in what he can say publicly because the city may be sued and the Pima County attorney is reviewing the case. Magnus also has asked the FBI to examine the case.

“CRITICAL FAILURES AT THE SCENE”

In an email interview Friday, Magnus acknowledged that the officers who resigned were allowed to stay on the job and said it was because the original internal investigators did a faulty job.

“The individuals initially assigned to the investigation failed to properly put the executive leadership team of the police department on notice about the critical failures at the scene by some of the involved officers,” Magnus said.

So around mid-June, the chief switched out the original investigators with two new appointees — Lt. Mickey Peterson and Lt. James Wakefield — who are former internal affairs investigators.

“A new team of experienced investigators was assigned to review, continue and complete the administrative investigation,” the chief said.

Upon review, a QUICK DECISION TO TERMINATE

The new team decided within days that three of the officers on duty during the incident should be terminated, despite a medical examiner’s ruling that the manner in which Ingram-Lopez died was “undetermined.”

The three officers were placed on administrative leave June 15 — the same day the new investigators gave a briefing to TPD brass. The trio resigned June 18.

The medical examiner said Ingram-Lopez had an enlarged heart and a history of chronic cocaine use. His cause of death was attributed to “sudden cardiac arrest in the setting of acute cocaine intoxication and physical restraint with left ventricular hypertrophy as a significant contributing factor.”

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Ingram-Lopez was handcuffed when he died on the floor of his grandmother’s garage on April 21. She had called 911 for help, saying Ingram-Lopez was running around naked and acting erratically while high on drugs.

Ingram-Lopez did not die from lack of oxygen, despite spending his last moments with a spit sock over his head and a thin covering over his head and body, the medical examiner’s findings showed.

And he did not die due to dehydration, even though he repeatedly asked for water. The officers said they did not give him water because he’d been spitting at them and they were concerned about coronavirus or other communicable diseases.

Racism was not deemed a factor in the death of the Hispanic man, authorities said. One of the officers who resigned was black, the other two were white.

OFFICERS HAD clean RECORDS

The three officers who resigned — Ryan Starbuck, Jonathan Jackson and Samuel Routledge —were not problem cops, records indicate.

Two had spotless disciplinary records, the other had one infraction for failing to properly search a prisoner.

The policy violations cited in the termination decision included keeping Ingram-Lopez on his stomach when they should have placed him on his side; failing to recognize that Ingram-Lopez’s delirious state put him at risk for a medical crisis; not taking adequate steps to deescalate the situation; cussing at Ingram-Lopez and threatening to shock him with a Taser when he did not follow instructions.

The three officers had received multiple training sessions on proper prisoner handling and should have known better than to take some of the actions they did, investigators said.

CHIEF’S RESIGNATION OFFER DECLINED by city officials

In a surprise move, Magnus offered to resign last week after publicly releasing the body cam video of Ingram-Lopez’s death. The city manager declined the offer the next day.

Romero, City Manager Mike Ortega and others praised the chief’s handling of the controversy surrounding the in-custody death of Ingram-Lopez and the willingness of Magnus to acknowledge his own shortcomings.

Magnus has pledged a number of department reforms, including being more diligent in overseeing internal investigations and making sure the public is notified any time a suspect dies in custody.

Ortega, who was ultimately responsible for deciding the chief’s fate, cited strong community support for Magnus’ leadership. He also noted the family of Ingram-Lopez has said they want Magnus to stay on the job and fix TPD’s problems rather than walk away.

After discussing the situation with Magnus, Ortega said he concluded the chief’s leadership “is exactly what we need in these difficult times.”

“I have no doubt,” Ortega said of Magnus being able to lead the department out of the fallout from the death of Ingram-Lopez. “There’s no question in my mind.”

“The Tucson Police Department command staff hijacked the internal investigation to ensure an outcome that would please the mayor.” Mike Storie Attorney for the Tucson Police Officers Association