Police fatally shoot driver who allegedly tried to flee
A Kent police officer shot and killed a man who dragged another officer with a sport-utility vehicle in a restaurant parking lot yesterday, police said.
The 10 a.m. shooting, in a McDonald's parking lot across the street from Kent-Meridian High School, followed a police chase triggered by the man's refusal to stop for a traffic infraction, Kent police spokesman Paul Petersen said.
Police did not officially release the slain driver's identity yesterday. But family members identified him as 31-year-old Richard L. "Bear" McCartor Jr., a lifelong Kent resident.
McCartor had a long history of driving infractions, including a pending drunken-driving charge in Renton. But his family yesterday questioned whether the police overreacted.
Federal Way police have been asked to investigate the shooting as an independent agency.
The chase started when an officer signaled for the driver to pull over behind an Azteca restaurant at the corner of Southeast 256th Street and 102nd Avenue Southeast, Petersen said. Instead, the man sped away, he said.
A circuitous pursuit lasted about three minutes and ended up back near the same intersection, in the McDonald's lot, Petersen said. At the back of the lot, where few cars were parked, the officer rammed the SUV in an effort to spin it around and stop it. But the driver kept going, Petersen said.
Another officer, who was standing in the parking lot, jumped into the driver's-side window of the SUV and tried to take control of the vehicle, Petersen said. But the driver accelerated rapidly toward busy 256th Street, dragging the officer along the pavement, he said.
A third officer then fired at least twice into the SUV, killing the man, Petersen said.
None of the officers was injured, he said.
As is routine, the officer who shot the man will be placed on paid leave until he feels ready to return to duty, Petersen said. The officers' names were not released.
"We know that when officers are involved in fatal incidents of any sort, it can be traumatic," Petersen said.
He wouldn't comment on whether the shooting was justified, saying that is a job for Federal Way investigators and a county coroner's inquest, which is scheduled whenever an officer kills someone in the line of duty. But it appears the officer shot the man because he feared for the safety of the officer being dragged by the accelerating car, Petersen said.
McCartor's relatives, though, said they have doubts.
"I'm not judging what happened because I wasn't there, but nobody forced the cop to jump on the car," said McCartor's brother-in-law, John Messmer of Tampa, Fla. "I don't think this was justified based on what I heard."
McCartor's family said he grew up in Kent and graduated from Kent-Meridian.
He lived with his parents so he could care for his father, who has cancer, Messmer said. McCartor worked the graveyard shift washing trucks at a Tacoma shipyard, Messmer said.
Although his license had been taken away, McCartor believed he had no choice but to drive to work so he wouldn't lose his job, Messmer said. While they didn't excuse his fleeing police, relatives said they suspect McCartor was just tired of being stopped by police, who, they think, likely knew him and his record of illegal driving on sight.
"This guy was a little on the irresponsible side, but he had a heart of gold," Messmer said. "He wasn't a violent criminal or anything like that. He was just trying to get away."
Ian Ith can be reached at 206-464-2109 or iith@seattletimes.com.