Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 850661.pdf

Citation: Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 850661.pdf
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
Source verification: official_capture_completeness_unverified
Original Source: https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/850661.pdf ↗

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concerns he has should be forwarded to his chain of command and/or Steve

Redmond for action.” The e-mail concludes: “Make it clear that this is an order.

. . . I will aggressively follow up if it is violated and this continues.”

After learning of Chief Wilske’s order, Sgt. Hockett stopped discussing the

issue of CO in the West Garage for over a year. During this time, Sgt. Hockett’s

direct supervisor, Lt. John Brooks, reportedly told him that SPD command staff

considered him a “problem child” because of his CO reporting and that “if you ever

want to go anywhere in this Department, you need to lay low.” Nonetheless, the

CO issue persisted. In November 2017, SPD discovered that the ventilation

system in the West Garage had been malfunctioning. First, an incorrectly installed

part was causing the fan to extract air from the garage less efficiently than

designed. Second, the system had been manually set to low speed since 2013 to

reduce noise, which prevented the system from automatically increasing the fan

speeds when it detected high levels of CO. SPD fixed these mechanical problems.

Sgt. Hockett re-raised his concerns about CO in May 2019, when he e-

mailed Lt. Brooks that he has “medically documented ailments consistent with daily

[CO] exposure at the precinct,” including “an emergency room visit . . . constant

fatigue, chronic headaches, sinus issues, and difficulty concentrating or

remembering simple things during or after being in the garage for extended periods

of time completing required tasks.” Sgt. Hockett’s e-mail also reported that other

SPD officers were calling him names such as “CO guy,” “troublemaker,” and “dead

man walking” because he reported to his superiors his concerns about CO in the