Witness refutes police account of shooting death

E-mail this article Print this article

For nearly a month, Kim Daisy was referred to only as the mystery witness in the Central Area shooting death of Aaron Roberts by a Seattle police officer - an unnamed woman with information that contradicted the police account.

Yesterday, Daisy went public with her version of what happened during the May 31 shooting at the corner of 23rd Avenue and East Union Street.

Police say Roberts was dragging Officer Greg Neubert down the street with his car before the fatal bullet was fired. Daisy says she saw Roberts' car roll down the street, but there was no officer attached - and no violent acceleration that would imply someone was being dragged. In fact, Daisy said, it looked more like the driver already had been incapacitated.

At first, Daisy said she wasn't sure she should tell anyone what she saw.

But when she read the police version in the newspaper, Daisy, 37, a receptionist for a nonprofit agency and single mother of two, got angry. She talked to City Councilman Nick Licata. She got a lawyer. Then she told the FBI. Then she told Seattle police.

"Someone's not telling the truth about this entire incident," Daisy said yesterday, her attorney at her side. "I had to let somebody know what I saw. Someone has to start telling the truth."

With the public inquest into Roberts' shooting to begin in a month, Daisy's lawyer, Roberts' lawyers and Licata are urging that Daisy's account be taken seriously and be included in the public airing, saying she points to critical inconsistencies in the police story.

The attorneys for the two officers involved in the shooting say they have no problem with her being allowed to testify. They say she is outnumbered by witnesses who agree with police.

"Why does her story come out the way it did?" said Ted Buck, an attorney for officers Neubert and Craig Price. "Any clear-thinking person would wonder why she just didn't go straight to the homicide detectives and tell them what she saw."

In the meantime, police yesterday said Price, the officer who shot Roberts, is back on the job, though not on patrol. Neubert remains on medical leave.

Yesterday, Daisy said she had been reluctant to come forward because she didn't know whether to trust the police. She has no criminal record - just one traffic ticket two years ago in Bellevue.

Daisy, who has lived in the Central Area since 1991, said she had met Roberts once but didn't know him well.

"I've never been involved in anything like this, so I didn't know what to do," she said.

The night Roberts died, she said, she had driven to the Philly's sandwich shop at the corner of 23rd and Union for a late-night bite. As she left, she saw flashing police lights on 23rd, where Roberts had been stopped. That made her think traffic was blocked, so she pulled into a convenience-store parking lot across the street.

That's when she saw Roberts' white Cadillac rolling and weaving slowly toward her, she said. It was as if the driver had let his foot off the brake while the car was still in gear. There were no police officers next to the car, she said.

"I remember thinking, 'Why is he driving like that? Why does he drive so slow?' " Daisy said.

Then the car started backing up, just as slowly, Daisy said. It rolled up onto the curb and crunched into a concrete planter.

Then, Daisy said she saw an officer walk hurriedly to the car and open the driver's-side door. He then pulled the unmoving man out, placed him on the pavement and backed away.

Daisy said she didn't hear any gunshots or words spoken.

"I just thought someone was being arrested," she said. "I remember thinking, 'I'm glad he didn't put up a fight.' "

Daisy said she drove home, ate her sandwich and forgot about it until she read the police version in the paper.

Police and prosecutors say Roberts grabbed Neubert's arm and violently drove down the street, into the intersection and then back toward the planter.

Neubert's life was in danger, his attorney reiterated yesterday, even after Roberts was shot, and the impact with the planter knocked him off the car.

In the first days after the shooting, police reported that Neubert was stuck in the car even after it crashed into the planter. Yesterday, Buck said that was likely a misunderstanding by a police spokesman who hadn't heard Neubert's account.

But neither account sits well with Daisy.

"I just remember thinking, 'I didn't see that,' " she said. "That's not what I saw."

In hindsight, she said, she thinks Roberts was shot before the car started rolling.

"So far, there's only been one account of things that's out there," she said. "But it's not true. I saw it with my own two eyes."

"She strikes me as an innocent bystander who doesn't have an ax to grind or any agenda of her own," Councilman Licata said. "The public should be aware that there's more than one way to view this shooting, and we should look at all sides before drawing a conclusion."

But the officers' attorneys say they are confident their side will prevail.

Ian Ith can be reached at 206-464-2109 or iith@seattletimes.com.