KING COUNTY Memorandum Date: June 4, 2015 To: Chief Deputy Pugel Via: Direct From: Major Dave Jutilla, Metro Transit Police/ Re: Findings Memorandum RE: IIU 2014-244 AN 22015-106, DEPUTY AMY SHOBLOM ALLEGATIONS ALLEGATION #1 (During Incident, IIU Witness Interview on February 13, GOM 2015 and supplemental IIU Interview on April 16, 2015) Rules of Conduct: a. Making false or fraudulent reports or statements, committing acts of dishonesty, or inducing others to do so. BACKGROUND The King County Sheriff?s Office provides contracted transit police services to King County Metro Transit Police (MTP), with a total of 68 FTEs. I serve as the Precinct Commander for MTP (Precinct Deputy Amy Shoblom was assigned at MTP during the time frame of the alleged misconduct referred to in this memo. Operator Kelvin Kirkpatrick works for King County Metro Transit as a bus driver on the graveyard shift. He is African American and has worked at Metro Transit as a bus driver since July 1995 when he began as a part-time bus driver. He was promoted to full-time bus driver in April 1998. Operator Kirkpatrick has been assigned to the Night Owl Service at Metro Transit for many years. He has frequent interaction with MTP deputies and supervisors. Transit personnel, including deputies working graveyard for Metro Transit, provide what is referred to as the ?Night Owl Service.? Transit Chief Arnold Becker is the Night Chief of Central Base Operations and is the Administrative Supervisor of Operator Kirkpatrick. District Supervisors Kevin Friend and lrin Limargo are Kirkpatrick?s ?Service Quality? Field Supervisors. Deputy Amy Shoblom, Deputy Jesse Bailey and Sergeant Lou Caballero work on 3rd Shift/Graveyard at MTP and interact with the Metro coach operators. Operator Kirkpatrick reports that issues with Sergeant Caballero started in August 2014, when Caballero was assigned to MTP graveyard to replace Sergeant M. Starrett. Kirkpatrick felt Sergeant Caballero and his team had not been providing appropriate security for the drivers by proactively checking their coaches during the Night Owl layovers in Downtown Seattle. Kirkpatrick shared these concerns with District Supervisor Harmony Hunter who agreed to talk with Sergeant Caballero. A few days later, Operator Kirkpatrick reported that Sergeant Page 1 of 6 Caballero approached him and inquired about having problems with the way he runs his crew. When Kirkpatrick shared his security concerns with Sergeant Caballero, he said that Sergeant Caballero told him, way I run my crew works for me, and I?m not going to change it.? On September 28, 2014, Deputy Travis DeFries removed a subject from the bus being operated by Mr. Kirkpatrick in downtown Seattle. This subject was in violation of the Transit Code of Conduct. After the subject's removal, there was a Use of Force incident outside of the bus involving Deputy Travis DeFries. Operator Kirkpatrick reported that Deputy DeFries waved for him to drive away from the layover to prevent the violator from re-boarding the bus. On either November 6th or Operator Kirkpatrick reported that Sergeant Caballero confronted him about driving away from the scene and leaving Deputy DeFries at the scene without support. Sergeant Caballero inquired about a Security Incident Report (SIR) about the incident and directed Kirkpatrick to meet after this shift so that a recorded interview could be obtained. Operator Kirkpatrick waited at the Base for Sergeant Caballero as instructed, but Caballero did not show up. Sergeant Caballero stated during his interview that he forgot to meet Operator Kirkpatrick at the Base. This negative interaction led to Operator Kirkpatrick making a complaint via email on October 7, 2014 against Sergeant Lou Caballero. Mr. Kirkpatrick accused Sergeant Caballero of being ?unprofessional and condescending? towards him (Attachment At the time of making the complaint, Mr. Kirkpatrick expressed his concern to Metro Transit Central Base Operations Chief Arnold Becker, that Sergeant Caballero would retaliate against him for filing the complaint. On November 12, 2014, Operator Kirkpatrick attended a Security Focus Group meeting to discuss processes and expectations of Transit Security. The purpose of that meeting was to meet with Transit Operations, Service Quality and the Transit Control Center to discuss performance concerns about the services provided by the Metro Transit Police during the ?Night Owl" service. During the meeting, some negative comments were shared by transit employees with reference to Sergeant Caballero and his squad. Participants shared that one of the MTP squads was proactive and the other MTP squad was not proactive. On November 14, 2014 at approximately 0352 hours there was an interaction between Sergeant Lou Caballero and Operator Kelvin Kirkpatrick behind the Rapid Ride that is the basis for this complaint investigation. OVERVIEW OF THE 11/14/14 EVENT On November 14, 2014 around 0352 (time approximate), there was an interaction between Sergeant Lou Caballero and Operator Kelvin Kirkpatrick. The exchange took place behind the Rapid Ride coach driven by Kirkpatrick. Operator Kirkpatrick?s issue at that time was that the deputies and their supervisor had not checked his coach for sleepers to remove them if they were present (7 or 8 were documented to be present and sleeping or passed out). When Sergeant Caballero and the deputies were driving through the transit layover area, they were flagged down by Metro District Supervisor Kevin Friend and Operator Kelvin Kirkpatrick. Supervisor Friend did not stay with Kirkpatrick and Caballero for their interaction, instead he went to the front of the bus to check on how Supervisor Limargo was doing regarding a Bad Order (BIO) radio situation on Operator Kirkpatrick?s coach. The conversation behind the bus between Sergeant Caballero and Operator Kirkpatrick was contentious. It was clear that Operator Kirkpatrick was frustrated that his coach was not Page 2 of 6 checked by the deputies. During the interaction, Sergeant Caballero alleges that Operator Kirkpatrick used and said, ?fucking deputies? directed at he and his deputies. Deputy Shoblom was present and observed and heard this interaction. After the incident on November 14, 2014, Sergeant Caballero wrote and sent an email of alleged misconduct to MTP Captain Marcus Williams accusing Operator Kirkpatrick of yelling and directing profanity at him during the contentious conversation. Sergeant Caballero closed the email with his request that a formal complaint be filed with Metro Transit against Operator Kirkpatrick. =Excerpt from Caballero Email: Captain; I would like a call from you this afternoon regarding Operator Kirkpatrick and the way he yelled and used profanity towards me about an hour ago, Stating, ?You got three fucking deputies out here that don ?t do nothing I attempted to report this to Service Quality Supervisor Friend and he told me that I had to report this believe his behavior was uncalled for and unprofessional. This type of dramatic interaction has been escalating for the last few weeks. I would like to make a formal complaint at this time. Please call me after 1400. (Emphasis added.) End of Caballero Email Excerpt Shortly after the incident in the field, Deputy Shoblom wrote the following Word document, which she stored in her laptop and ultimately shared during her first llU Witness Interview: 2 Shoblom Word Document Excerpt: 11/14/14 0401 Toward the end of the night owls, I had watched Kelvin cross 3? eastbound while we were checking the coaches along the northbound side. We crossed the street westbound as the rest of the coaches began to leave. We all returned to our cars and began to leave when Sgt. Caballero stopped at the line coach 604 7. 1 saw that Kelvin was saying something to him and Sgt. Caballero pulled the car out of the roadway with Deputy Bailey and 1 following. As I exited my car, I heard Kelvin yelling. He was saying got three fucking deputies out here that don ?t do nothing! Sgt. Caballero asked him why he was yelling at him and Kelvin claimed that he wasn?t. Kelvin continued to yell about where we should be standing and caused a scene stating that we were not doing anything (even though we had already checked 5 of the 7 coaches) along 3rd. I heard Sgt. Caballero say that we did not check the coach as Kelvin was not even on it so it did not appear that there was a problem. The situation that caused Kelvin to be so upset were three males sleeping on the rear of the bus it should be noted that the males were not causing any disturbance and multiple other drivers at the 0315 check allowed sleepers on the coaches due to the weather). Metro Supervisor Kevin Friend voiced his concern about the Metro meeting that had recently been held and asked why the graveyard deputies were not present especially since Page 3 of 6 we deal with situations such as these. He was advised that a captain and the major had attended instead. The incident tonight was completely unnecessary and unwarranted. One of the Metro supervisors on scene stated that the driver 's behavior was ?getting out ofcontrol There has been a noticeable difference in the behavior of this driver in the past few weeks that is very concerning to me. Our squad repeatedly checks the coaches at every night owl so there does not appear to be a service related reason for the change in attitude towards us. End of Shoblom Word Document Excerpt The complaint by Sergeant Caballero was immediately forwarded by the MTP Command staff to a Metro Base Chief to initiate a misconduct complaint investigation. Based on the complaint, Metro Transit Chief Arnold Becker initiated a misconduct complaint against Operator Kirkpatrick for a major policy violation. On November 18, 2014, Mr. Kirkpatrick provided a written statement regarding the November 14, 2014 interaction with Sergeant Caballero. In the statement, Mr. Kirkpatrick asserts he did not use profanity during the confrontation with Sergeant Caballero. Mr. Kirkpatrick stated he told Sergeant Caballero, ?l?m expressing how frustrated I am at the fact that have three deputies out here that don?t do anything when I need help.? In the written statement, Mr. Kirkpatrick also states he recorded the exchange with the body camera he was wearing that night. Mr. Kirkpatrick closed his narrative by writing, ?I?ve spent three days (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday) stressed out about my work record and my credibility." On January 27, 2015, Sergeant Caballero was questioned by Sergeant Pat Raftis regarding the incident. Sergeant Caballero again asserted that Mr. Kirkpatrick stated; ?Quote: you got three fucking deputies out here that aren?t doing nothing; that don?t do nothing.? During his interview Caballero further stated that Operator Kirkpatrick said, am sick and fuck. . .and starts swearing at (Ref. Page 20 of the misconduct investigation). Sergeant Caballero also said during his interview that the profanity was fresh in his mind after the incident when he wrote it up in his complaint email. Sergeant Caballero also said in his interview that he believed Operator Kirkpatrick was smart enough to move to the back of the bus so that the conversation between the two could not be detected by the audio recording of the camera coach system. On February 13, 2015, Deputy Shoblom was questioned about the incident by Sergeant Frances Carlson. During the interview, Deputy Shoblom statedthe car like I couldnlike ah talking over the hood so I immediately get out and I could hear I heard I hear Calvin like screaming; like completely yelling, got three fucking deputies out here and they don?t do nothing.? And he said something else and LOU goes why are you yelling at me?? When asked if Operator Kirkpatrick was telling the truth that Kirkpatrick did not use profanity, she said She said Sergeant Caballero was telling the truth regarding Operator Kirkpatrick using profanity and that she is 100% sure (Page 6). Page 4 of 6 On February 15, 2015, Deputy Bailey was questioned about the incident by Sergeant Carlson. Sergeant Carlson asked Deputy Bailey what he heard on November 14, 2014 during the incident and he stated; could tell it was a heated conversation. . .But, I didn?t hear any profanity, it was just loud. Wasn?t at the level of screaming that it caused a crowd or other people to look in or anything like that. It was just ah I could tell they were both very angry. And it seemed like there had been some history between the two of them too; because there was, you know, mentioning like you guys are always standing around or stuff like that so.? On January 8, 2015, Operator Kirkpatrick was interviewed by KCSO llU Sergeant Carlson. During his interview he shared that he told his supervisors he could prove he did not use the profanity that Sergeant Caballero accused him of using. He stated he could do this because the November 14th interaction was documented in the video from the body camera he wears. Operator Kirkpatrick said he wore a body camera during his Night Owl service because he did not feel safe. Sergeant Caballero was not aware he was being videotaped during this contact. Mr. Kirkpatrick submitted to the video he took of the November 14, 2014 incident. In the video Sergeant Caballero asks Mr. Kirkpatrick ?are you yelling at me?? Mr. Kirkpatrick responds; ?l'm not yelling at you sergeant. I?m not yelling at you. I?m expressing how frustrated I am at the fact that I got three deputies that don?t do anything when I need help. In May 2015, KCSO Detective Melissa Rogers performed a digital forensics analysis of Mr. Kirkpatrick?s body camera video. Detective Rogers found: used the lrfan View software program to view both video ?les and could see no evidence of alteration or modification of the video other than the cropping or shortening of the copy that was stored on the laptop computer.? The complaint that Sergeant Caballero made was investigated by Metro Transit and was determined to be UNFOUNDED. Based on the physical evidence and statements, I believe that Deputy Shoblom was not honest about her observations about the contact between Sergeant Caballero and Operator Kirkpatrick saying that Mr. Kirkpatrick used profanity against Sergeant Caballero and members of the Sheriff?s Office when evidence shows he did not. 0 The Kirkpatrick Body Cam Video reflects the following narrative: ?I?m expressing how frustrated I am at the fact that I?ve got three deputies that don?t do anything when I need help.? 0 Sergeant Caballero made a formal complaint in writing with his command staff that Mr. Kirkpatrick yelled: ?You got three fucking deputies out here that don ?t do nothing.? 0 Deputy Shoblom summarized the event in writing shortly after the incident at the request of her Sergeant. At 0401 hours, she noted in her narrative: heard Kelvin yelling. He was saying, I got three fucking deputies out here that don?t do nothing.? 0 Deputy Shoblom said during her llU interviewthe car like I couldnlike ah talking over the hood. So I immediately get out; and I hear Calvin like screaming; like just completely yelling. got three fucking deputies out Page 5 of 6 here and they don?t do nothing.? And he said something else and LOU goes why are you yelling at me?? 0 Deputy Bailey stated that he did not hear anyone swear or use profanity. As an employee accused of dishonesty, Deputy Shoblom was interviewed by IIU on April 16, 2015. She confirmed that her written summary of the event, and previous interview statement as a witness with IIU were accurate. She was given the opportunity to View the video turned over by Operator Kirkpatrick. After viewing the video, she was asked if Sergeant Caballero had asked her to write the noted statement or had discussed the event about Mr. Kirkpatrick and she responded, ?Yes?. When asked if they specifically discussed the use of profanity Deputy Shoblom stated, don?t. . .I don?t recall if we repeated verbatim what he had said? I think more so the conversation was. . .I can?t believe that just happened. You know and more - and you, to be honest, like, wow, the fuck does he get off. . .saying that?? (Page 3) Metro Transit Police is the largest contract for the Sheriff?s Office. One of our primary goals for Metro Transit is to support the safety and security of transit employees, which most importantly includes the front line bus operators. Members of transit operations must count on the deputies and sergeants of the transit police to deliver high quality and professional law enforcement services in support of their security. I believe that the policy violation of dishonesty by Deputy Shoblom has diminished the respect of the Sheriff?s Office in the eyes of our transit employees. This opinion is shared by Rob Gannon, King County Metro Transit Deputy General Manager. As the Precinct Commander, I find her actions completely unacceptable. At the National, State and Regional level, the public perception by many African Americans of members of law enforcement is critical and laced with distrust. We have seen countless protests across the country and many in the Seattle community surrounding concerns on the use of force by the police as well as issues integrity and honesty after video evidence captures interactions. Race relations with minority communities and the police are significantly strained at this time. Many community discussions surround the necessity for members of law enforcement to wear mandatory body cameras to monitor their interactions with the public. In this instance, an African American bus driver wearing a video camera captured evidence that a member of law enforcement took actions to make false allegations of misconduct against him and in retaliation to a complaint. The facts support a finding that both Sergeant Caballero and Deputy Shoblom documented the same inaccurate and false version of events, close in time, when these events were freshest in their minds. Given the uncontroverted evidence of the video tape, which contradicts their version(s), there is no other reasonable explanation or finding on these facts. Based on the information obtained from the initial event (written document), the first IIU interview, and the supplemental IIU interview of Deputy Shoblom, I believe that there is evidence that supports the allegation that she was dishonest with what she put in writing and again stated during her two IIU interviews. ALLEGATIONS AND FINDINGS: .Allegation #1 .. . Rules of Conduct: a. Making false or fraudulent reports or statements, committing acts GOM of dishonesty, or inducing others to do so. RECOMMENDED CLASSIFICATION OF ALLEGATION SUSTAINED Page 6 of 6