Officer ‘justified’ in killing elderly woman in jail lobby, Spokane prosecutor decides

The Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office has decided a Spokane corrections officer was justified in killing a 70-year-old woman brandishing a knife in the lobby of the Spokane County Jail, according to a news release from the county.

Nancy King had repeatedly rung the buzzer by the locked jail lobby door just before 8 p.m. Dec. 4 when a cashier at the jail asked Sgt. Justin White for help, according to the release.

White signaled for the cashier to unlock the doors so White could talk to King, the news release said. Seconds later, King pulled a “large knife” from her coat pocket and raised it “within inches of White’s face,” the release said. Investigators later found this knife at the scene. White, still in the doorway, stepped backward away from King and she followed him into the lobby, according to the release.

White pulled out his gun and told King to drop the knife. King kept the knife held high, the release said. White continued backing away, changing directions as furniture obstructed his path and King continued toward him with the knife, according to the county’s release.

White fired his weapon – the medical examiner found King died of multiple gunshot wounds – just before he fell backward over a bench behind him, the release said.

Investigators later found that about three hours before she arrived at the jail lobby, police had responded to bomb threats made against Deaconess Hospital and the Frontier Behavioral Health building in Spokane.

Police tracked the calls to room No. 101 at the Ramada Inn at 923 East Third Avenue, where King was the only registered guest that day, the release said.

King had also identified herself in one of the bomb threat calls, according to the county’s release. Spokane police had arrived at the hotel room door but she did not allow them in. Suspecting a mental health issue, Spokane Police had requested a Designated Crisis Responder but the request was denied, the release said.

Toxicology tests determined that King’s blood ethanol level was 0.12 and that she had taken citalopram, an antidepressant. According to the FDA, experiments have not shown that citalopram increases the effects of alcohol.

“Under these facts and circumstances, Sgt. White was justified in his use of deadly force,” the county’s news release reads. “Therefore, no criminal charges will be filed against Sgt. White in this matter.”

At the time of King’s death, the Spokane Chapter of the NAACP released a statement condemning the “lack of value put on the lives” of people law enforcement encounter in Spokane County.

President of the chapter Kiantha Duncan said Tuesday that, after the prosecutor’s decision, “my sentiments remain the same.”

“When we ‘justify’ excessive force being used on community members – elderly or others who are likely suffering from mental health issues – we have missed the mark,” Duncan said.

Nancy King had a difficult life that led to being estranged from her family for many years, her nephew Jack King said the week she died. Still, he said he struggled to understand why a stun gun or pepper spray couldn’t have stopped the petite woman.

“I’m pro-law enforcement and I’m a law-and-order type person,” Jack King said at the time. “Sure, a homeless person can seem scary, but it’s hard to picture someone that small and elderly being a threat to a corrections officer.”