BY CHRISTINE WILLMESEN
Seattle Times
Tears rolled down the tired faces of three women who sat side by side on a family-room couch Friday afternoon in Puyallup. They were the two widows and a sister of three of the Lakewood police officers gunned down by Maurice Clemmons four months ago in a coffee shop.
They announced plans to file multimillion-dollar claims against Pierce County, hoping to spark jail reforms and create a safer community. When the Pierce County Sheriff's Department and many in the community verbally attacked them, they were shocked. Much of the public, which had sympathized with these mourning families, now seemed to vilify them.
"We thought this would help with healing," Kim Renninger, widow of Sgt. Mark Renninger, said of the claims. "But it has opened a wound I never expected. What hurts most of all is them calling me greedy."
Bitter comments came from talk-radio callers and anonymous commenters on newspaper and television Web sites.
Renninger and Officers Ronald Owens, Gregory Richards and Tina Griswold were gunned down by Clemmons on Nov. 29.
Lawyers for all four families had announced plans Thursday to file $182 million in claims against the county, saying the Sheriff's Department and jail failed to prevent the officers' deaths by not monitoring jail telephone calls made by Clemmons. He repeatedly vowed that he would kill police officers once he made bail.
On Friday afternoon, the three women said their families have dropped their claims against Pierce County because of the backlash.
"We don't want this ugliness. I just want it to be over," said Kelly Richards, one of the widows.
Owens' sister, Ronda LeFrancois, said: "We were in it for the change. The system is broken. I never would have been able to make it through the tragedy without the community. We'd never throw this back in their face."
A lawyer for Griswold's husband, who filed a claim, said Friday that his client was considering whether to change course, as well.
In the months before the murders, Clemmons can be heard in recorded jail calls telling his wife and other family members that he planned to kill law-enforcement officers. As with all inmates, his phone calls were recorded but not monitored.
The Seattle Times listened to all of Clemmons' recorded telephone calls, having obtained them first under the state's public-records law.
Earlier Friday, the three families said the claims weren't about money but policy changes and revised the claim to reflect their thoughts by dropping the monetary demand.
By Friday afternoon, the families were distraught at the public's negative perceptions and decided they didn't want to pursue the legal claims.
Family members say they don't expect the jail to monitor hundreds of inmate calls a day. Instead they want the county to develop a procedure to evaluate prisoners and listen to calls from those deemed the most dangerous.
"I'm wanting a policy put in place so they monitor phone calls of high-risk inmates -- bottom line," Kim Renninger said. "We see a flaw, and we're trying to put a spotlight on the flaw and fix it. I love and support this county, but I want it a safer place for my kids and families."
Attorney Bob Christie, representing three of the families, said he contacted legal advisers at Pierce County in early March to discuss the families' ideas about monitoring jail recordings. But he said "we got stonewalled." He crafted administrative claims for his clients, intending to force the issue. He assigned multimillion-dollar amounts for damages, a move he now regrets.
Christie said claims are typically filed seeking a dollar amount in damages. However, the $182 million total created a distraction from the purpose of the claims, he said.
"I feel horrible. My approach to this created this backlash," Christie said. "You can blame that on me."
Renninger was upset that Pierce County Sheriff's Department spokesman Ed Troyer acted surprised by the claims and attacked the families in the local media with words like "greed" and "meritless lawsuit."
"It wasn't about the money," she said tearfully.
After the four officers were murdered, the community reached out to the wives and other family members, supporting them emotionally and donating $2 million to an education fund for the officers' nine children.
"People think we're living high off the hog with this $2 million," LeFrancois said. "That's so untrue."
The fund is controlled by a board of trustees that allocates money only to the children's education. The widows and other family have received no money from the account.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
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