KENT, Washington. A suburban Seattle police officer ignored his training and unnecessarily resorted to deadly force when he shot and killed a man outside a convenience store in 2019, prosecutors said at the start of the officer’s murder trial Thursday.
Auburn police officer Jeff Nelson shot Jesse Sarey twice while trying to arrest him for disorderly conduct. Sarey, 26, was the third person Nelson killed in the line of duty in the last eight years.
Nelson’s attorney, Emma Scanlan, told jurors during her opening statement that she believed — wrongly — that Sarey had taken a folding knife from the officer’s pocket. Instead, the knife fell to the ground and was picked up by a witness.
Every day for the past five years, Nelson has wished she knew the knife wasn’t in play as she fought with Sarey: “We wouldn’t be here if he knew,” she said, according to The Seattle Times.
The case is the second to go to trial since Washington voters in 2018 made it easier to prosecute police by removing a rule that required prosecutors to prove they acted with malice; now, prosecutors must demonstrate that the level of force was unreasonable or unnecessary. In December, jurors acquitted three Tacoma police officers in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis.
Sarey, who was homeless and struggling with his mental health and substance use, allegedly threw things at cars and created a disturbance, although not threatening anyone, on May 31, 2019, when Nelson responded.
King County Special Prosecutor Angelo Calfo told the jury that Nelson ignored his training, which required him to use time, distance and cover, fundamental rules of de-escalation and officer safety.
Instead of waiting for backup, Nelson grabbed Sarey from where he was sitting on the sidewalk drinking from discarded cups; Instead of keeping his distance and taking cover, he approached Sarey and stood over him, Calfo said.
When Sarey did not comply with Nelson’s commands to put his hands behind his back, Nelson grabbed him and began wrestling with him and punching him. Nelson pushed him against a refrigerator, pulled out the gun and shot him in the abdomen, Calfo said.
“I don’t want to excuse Mr. Sarey’s conduct — he should have agreed,” Calfo said. “But a police officer must use his training to avoid the need to use force. That is not what happened.”
Sarey fell to the ground, leaning back. Nelson then removed a trapped shot from his gun, looked at a nearby witness, turned to Sarey and shot him again — this time in the forehead, video of the encounter shows.
Just like the first, Calfo said, the second shooting was unjustified: “He could have done a million things other than shoot this man in the head.”
Nelson’s attorney told the jury he would testify during the trial. He waited five years to say exactly what happened that day, Scanlan said, including the feeling during the struggle that Sarey had grabbed his gun.
Nelson said in a written statement after the shooting that he believed Sarey had a knife and posed a threat before the first shot — and that Sarey was on his knees “crouched down… ready to move forward” before the officer fired again. Nelson has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and first-degree assault.
An Iraq war veteran, Nelson joined the department in 2008.
The city of Auburn paid Sarey’s family $4 million to settle a civil rights claim and paid nearly $2 million more to settle other litigation over Nelson’s actions as a police officer.
The trial, before King County Superior Court Judge Nicole Gaines Phelps at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, is expected to last several weeks. Gaines ruled that jurors will not hear evidence about Nelson’s prior use of deadly force.
In one such earlier case, the city of Auburn agreed to pay $1.25 million to the family of another man killed by Nelson, Isaiah Obet. Obet allegedly broke into houses and tried to steal a car with a knife when Nelson confronted him in 2017.
Nelson released his police dog, which bit Obet and shot the man in the torso. Obet, on the ground and still fighting the police dog, began trying to get up and Nelson shot him again, in the head, police said. The department praised Nelson’s actions as protecting the community.
In another incident, Nelson shot and killed Brian Scaman, a Vietnam veteran with mental problems and a history of crimes, in 2011 after pulling Scaman over for a burned-out headlight. Scaman got out of the car with a knife and refused to drop it; Nelson shot him in the head. An inquest jury cleared Nelson of any wrongdoing.
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