Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council member
in the small Thurston County City of Tanana,
I'd like to introduce
officer Christopher Backus.
City leaders recently welcomed a new face.
The New Tonight Officer Christopher
Backus is a former Tukwila police officer.
His personnel files show after a successful
three-year career there, he resigned.
I had a leave of absence from law
enforcement for a few years and just
happy to be here and getting back
into what I actually love to do.
Thank you for joining
this public kickoff for his new job.
There's something Backus isn't talking about.
His troubled history as a cop and
the extreme lengths he and his former
employer took to keep it a secret.
This is dashcam
video from a 2015 police car.
The first of several were bosses found Backus
was out of line. A 911 call came in from
this Tukwila McDonald saying a group of
black teenagers were quote destroying things.
Police photos show part of a milkshake on
the wall. More on the floor.
McDonald's all kids hang out.
Marcus tops was there with his friends.
He was eighteen at the time.
I saw a police officer come in.
One leading the charge
went straight for them.
Officer Backus was the first one in record.
Without asking questions,
he tackled and punched this 15 year
old boy named Mark has written.
You seen him get pounded on. We don't even
know why you're walking to the bathroom.
Police audio caught Marquez telling
officer Backus he was the wrong guy.
Yeah, got blood on my nose.
You didn't listen to what I told you,
alright, but look, what did I do? Why?
Just gonna call you guys.
Destroyed the place.
Now what the hell?
Calling manager he'll tell you
that it's not me. My the hell
the night ended with Marquez in the
back of a cop car with a bloody nose
and charges of obstructing attempted
assault and resisting arrest.
Officer makes mistake I go to jail. Before
police report he justified his actions.
Writing I feared Marquez
was going to assault me.
But when the city opened an internal
probe the officer story fell apart.
Investigators found not only
did the cop grab the wrong
person and use excessive force.
But Backus falsified reports
that his version was a clear
contradiction of what officials
saw on surveillance video.
There's nothing that can
justify his actions at all.
All charges against Marquez
were dismissed back at this.
Problems didn't end at this McDonald's.
In the span of only five
months the next year,
there were three more incidents
that led his bosses to conclude his
excessive force had become a pattern,
disciplinary records show.
At at Tukwila bus stop in 2016,
Backus used a Taser on a man who
wasn't actively resisting arrest.
And outside this bowling alley
records show he failed to report
he shoved a teen head first into a
planter and threatened to use his
Taser 8 days later investigators
say back is inappropriately
tased a drunk homeless man
using a Taser is is a pretty elevated
use of force and so that that was his
initial reaction to people who were
not resisting or who were passively
resisting is really concerning.
The Tukwila Police Department had enough
and 2017 they fired officer back.
So what should have happened from here?
Police accountability experts
would tell you that disciplinary
history should have followed back,
As for the rest of his career.
So how did he end up with a clean slate
with paperwork showing he quit on his own?
This is a document that made it happen,
a 2018 settlement agreement with Tukwila
PD in exchange for Bacchus's resignation.
The city took all their findings
of misconduct and reversed them,
and they threw out from his personnel
file all traces of those records.
Including the fact that he got fired.
Now you pay him out as well.
After wiping his record clean,
Tukwila paid officer Backus $75,000
to leave the department and remain
quiet under a confidentiality clause.
And my judgment, that
was just inappropriate.
Darrell Stevens is a former police chief
and a national expert in police leadership.
Everything the police
do is subject to being reviewed by someone
on the phone.
Back as declined an interview.
He told us his legal deal with
Tukwila doesn't allow it.
Tukwila officials declined
to explain their.
Decision to settle.
What upsets you about this
settlement agreement?
They're settling out with the wrong people.
You guys messed up, so you guys
should be trying to crawl over broken
glass with the people you affected.
Officer makes mistake.
I go to juvie for remember Mark
has Riddle for McDonald's
right back in a moment. I was curious.
We found him living in
Nevada now 23 years old,
so it's been eight years.
This is the first time he
saw the video of himself as a
teenager in the back of the cop
car. It's really traumatizing. We
told him the cop who punched and
arrested him that night struck a deal.
In this and not felt in that moment.
I was so mad I probably
couldn't even cry now on me.
Yeah. Stuff was heavy
in the wake of the city silence.
Police accountability experts say
this is most likely what happened.
Police departments will turn to
settlements to avoid scandal,
union fights and lawsuits
when that's on the table.
That's a really kind of expensive
and time-consuming process
for the Police Department.
So oftentimes they're going to say,
what's the easiest way we
can get rid of this officer?
Christopher Backus tonight.
Hi, Christopher Backus. Compromise work
back and forth as a full time
tonight. All police officer
back. Do you have anything you'd like to say?
There's a long road to get
back into law enforcement.
And so, you know, I'm very appreciative
of the chief and it's nice getting
back into doing what you love instead
of just doing a job to be a job.
Congratulations.
Thank you and welcome to Tenino.
Tonight no leaders didn't respond
when we asked them if they knew about
because this past when they hired him.
But there's one more thing about Tukwila.
This back back is incident was not a one off.
We found two other deals where they
agreed to wipe and change disciplinary
records for officers with a troubled past.