Lawsuit Filed In Swat Death -- Slain Woman's Family Names City, County

The fatal shooting of an Everett mother during a police raid on her home last March resulted from a shoddy police investigation in which officials ignored or misstated critical facts, according to a civil lawsuit filed yesterday in U.S. District Court.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Robin Pratt's family, seeks punitive and compensatory damages from Snohomish County and its sheriff and Lynnwood and its police chief, as well as eight SWAT team members and two Lynnwood police officers.

Seattle attorney John Muenster, representing the dead woman's family, said the two law-enforcement agencies are culpable - Lynnwood for its investigation and Snohomish County for the methods used during its SWAT-team raid. But he added: "Clearly the SWAT team would never have raided the apartment without the faulty investigation of Lynnwood."

Sheriff Jim Scharf and Lynnwood police Cmdr. John Szalda yesterday said they hadn't seen the lawsuit and couldn't comment on it.

The suit does not specify how much money is being sought on 15 claims, including wrongful death, negligence and violation of constitutional rights.

Papers previously filed with the county and Lynnwood indicated the family would ask for at least $45.9 million from each.

The suit lists as plaintiffs Pratt's estate; her husband, Larry; her daughter, Tanya; her niece, Jessica, and her parents. Muenster said he filed in federal court because the case could go to trial more quickly than in state court, perhaps early 1993.

The suit alleges that the sheriff's SWAT team stormed into the Pratts' South Everett apartment March 28 to arrest Larry Pratt for his alleged involvement in the 1991 robbery of a Loomis Armored Inc. car in which a guard was killed.

In the hallway outside their bedroom, Deputy Anthony Aston fatally shot Robin Pratt as she ran toward her daughter and niece in the living room.

Larry Pratt and five others arrested in simultaneous raids were released from jail days later when police discovered they had alibis for the time of the robbery.

`EVERYONE'S FORGOTTEN'

Debbie Hopkins, Larry Pratt's cousin, said this is the first chance the family has had to tell its side of the story. "It seems like everyone's forgotten about it - everyone except us," she said. Larry Pratt is trying to put on a brave front for his daughter, but Hopkins said he is breaking apart inside.

"Larry was always the one who protected Robin," she said, "and for him it's the guilt of not being able to protect her this time."

In the 71-page court document, Muenster alleges Lynnwood police had all the information they needed days before the raid to realize Larry Pratt was not the gunman in the Loomis heist:

-- Sam Blackburn, an informant on whose word Lynnwood police based their request for a search warrant, said he learned of Larry Pratt's alleged involvement in the robbery at a planning meeting several weeks before the heist.

But according to business records, Blackburn was working for a seafood company in Alaska until the day after the robbery.

-- Paul Pratt, Larry's brother, supposedly took Blackburn to the planning meeting at Larry Pratt's apartment. But documents showed that Paul Pratt was living in Missouri at the time.

-- Lynnwood police had seen an apartment application showing that Larry Pratt worked at an Everett tire store. But they never checked his timecards, which showed he was working that day, thus eliminating him as a suspect.

-- Police had Larry Pratt's driver's license photo but never showed it to eyewitnesses to the robbery. They omitted information from a search warrant request that Larry Pratt did not match the suspects' descriptions, misleading the Superior Court judge who signed the warrant, Muenster said. At a police lineup after Pratt's arrest, eyewitnesses did not identify him as the gunman.

-- Police falsely stated that two managers at the Pratts' apartment complex had called Larry Pratt a violent man who had threatened to shoot people, Muenster said.

Once the search warrant was approved, the sheriff's SWAT team hatched a plan to conduct a raid on the Pratts' apartment instead of arresting Larry Pratt at work and without regard to the safety of his wife, daughter or other apartment complex residents, Muenster said.

Instead of using an apartment key given to them, SWAT members threw a 50-pound battering ram through a sliding-glass door that landed near the heads of Pratt's 6-year-old daughter and 5-year-old niece.

As Aston rounded the corner to the Pratts' bedroom, he encountered Robin Pratt. SWAT members were yelling, "Get down," and she started to crouch onto her knees. She looked up at Aston and said, "Please don't hurt my children," Muenster said.

Aston had his gun pointed at her and fired, shooting her in the neck. According to Muenster, she was alive another one to two minutes but could not speak because her throat had been destroyed by the bullet. She was handcuffed, lying face down on the floor.

CONFLICTING REPORTS

During a June inquest into her death, Aston said he couldn't remember what happened. Other deputies gave conflicting reports about what they saw. An assistant state attorney general investigating the case theorized that Aston had collided with Robin Pratt and unintentionally pulled the trigger.

Aston then went into the Pratts' bedroom and placed the muzzle of his MP-5 assault submachine gun against Larry Pratt's mouth, Muenster said. When Pratt asked to move his head, Deputy Thomas Davis allegedly told him if he did, he would blow Pratt's head off.

When deputies called for medics, they referred to lacerations, and paramedics drove to the scene without lights or sirens. They went inside the apartment without any life-saving equipment. When they arrived, none of the deputies was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Muenster said.

OFFICER BACK ON DUTY

Although a sheriff's shooting review board concluded the shooting was not within department policy, Aston was not disciplined and has returned to active duty.

The U.S. Department of Justice has begun a review of the shooting following a request by Muenster. The local FBI office will investigate and report back to federal civil-rights lawyers, who will decide whether to pursue criminal charges.

Muenster said he plans to file another suit against police in Everett and Mountlake Terrace for raids they conducted on the homes of five other men, four of them relatives of Larry Pratt, who were arrested the same day. --------------------------------------------------------------- Chronology

Here is the chronology of the Loomis armored-car robbery and the shooting of Robin Pratt:

-- Feb. 19, 1991: Two Loomis Armored Inc. guards are shot, one fatally, at the Fred Meyer store in Lynnwood. The two gunmen flee with $34,000.

-- March 28, 1992: Robin Marie Pratt is shot and killed by Snohomish County Deputy Anthony Aston during a SWAT team raid on her South Everett apartment. Her husband Larry, a suspect in the Loomis robbery, is arrested along with five other relatives during simultaneous raids around the county.

-- April 1: Charges against the six men are dropped after prosecutors learn many of them have alibis, including Larry Pratt, who was at work at an Everett tire store at the time of the shooting.

-- June 5: Following a three-day inquest, four of six jurors conclude Aston committed a crime when he shot Pratt. Three say it was an intentional act; one says it was negligent, and two others call it an excusable homicide.

-- July 16: Attorneys for Pratt's family file claims seeking $97.1 million in damages from Snohomish County and three cities on behalf of 19 individuals, including Larry Pratt, the Pratts' daughter and niece.

-- Aug. 7: Greg Canova, senior assistant state attorney general, decides not to file criminal charges against Aston.

-- Yesterday: Attorneys for the Pratt family file a civil lawsuit in federal court.