Seattle police officers justified in killing Charleena Lyles, panel finds

By Mike Carter
July 6, 2022

Two Seattle police officers were justified when they shot and killed Charleena Lyles and had no other reasonable alternative when they pulled the trigger, a unanimous King County coroner’s jury decided Wednesday after a two-week inquest into her 2017 death.

The decision was met with an anguished outburst by Lyles’ father, Charles Lyles, who shouted, “[Expletive] you! [Expletive] you! You killed my daughter!” as he was expelled from the courtroom by inquest administrator Michael Spearman, who apologized to the six-member jury.

“You’ll answer some day!” Lyles yelled. “You’ll answer to God!”

The two police officers, Jason Anderson and Steven McNew, left the inquest by a back door and through a loading dock as angry Lyles family members crowded the hallway outside.

Karen Koehler, the family’s lawyer, said in a statement that the family “rejects the ultimate findings from the inquest jury today.”

“During the … inquest proceeding a solid and unflinching blue wall justified each and every action of its officers,” Koehler said. The process was “strictly narrowed” to focus on the officers’ state of mind and not Lyles’ long history of mental illness.

“The family does not blame the jury for its decision,” Koehler said. “SPD’s policies, practices and procedures are designed specifically to allow an officer to shoot and kill a person in mental crisis with a paring knife.”