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Suburban Seattle Cop Kills Man in Drug Deal

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #717)
Drug War Issues
2012 Drug War Killings

A Federal Way, Washington, police officer shot and killed a man last Friday afternoon after witnessing an apparent drug deal. The as yet unidentified man becomes the 2nd person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

According to Federal Way police spokeswoman Cathy Shrock, the officer was on duty when she stopped at a Starbucks in a local mall and saw what she believed to be two men doing a drug deal. The shooting occurred when she approached the vehicle.

"One of the subjects in the vehicle reached for something under the seat," said Schrock. "She told him, 'Don't move, I'll shoot!' That person went again for something under the seat, what she believed was a weapon, and he was shot."

The vehicle took off and was found about a mile away. The driver had fled and the passenger was dead of a gunshot wound. The driver, described as a white male in his 20s, was still at large at last report.

There is no word on whether drugs or a gun were found in the vehicle.

The unnamed officer has been placed on administrative leave. The neighboring Auburn Police Department has been called in to investigate.

Update: The Seattle Times later reported that the dead man was identified as Maksim Mayba, 21, and that police said they found heroin, but no weapons, in the car. The car driver has been arrested as well.

News Brief
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

poopscooper (not verified)

it's that whole i'm a chick cop so i'm scared and prone to overreacting/am trying to prove how hard core i am to my male co-workers thing in effect. 

Sun, 01/15/2012 - 4:57am Permalink
supertroopes (not verified)

yeah how dare that bitch protect herself from a potentially dangerous person. she should have just let him shoot her. should drugs be legalized? hell yes! should cops be allowed to protect themselves until then? hell yes!

Sun, 01/15/2012 - 12:33pm Permalink
Crushthestate (not verified)

You are a idiot! Where in police training does out say shoot first ask questions later. Situations like this is exactly what tracers and non lethal weapons are for. also she could have result called for back up and waited for help but dfw chose to go on guns blazing. You cop apoligist make me sick.
Sun, 01/15/2012 - 1:27pm Permalink
DaveMan50 (not verified)

Tracers??? are lead with magnesium in the back side so you can see where they go. Lead is still deadly and you are not to bright also. As for the rest it is true.

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 1:34pm Permalink
Kerr (not verified)

Ok, both parties in this situation are morons! Yes, she should of tried non lethal force until confermation of a deadly weapon was found, her bad. When your heart starts racing in situations like these people make rash decisions, but cops are supposed to be trained to deal with those situations properly. On the other side of the fence, when a cop has a gun pointed at you and says stop or I will shoot, then fucking stop what your doing and put your hands up, he had it coming. If you have a choice to obey or die, I would choose obey whether or not fines and jail time are involved or not. Doesn't matter if drugs where involved or not, legal or illegal there is always going to be idiots out there making stupid decisions, that's life, that the human race in general. Lesson to this story, darwin law!
Sun, 01/15/2012 - 4:20pm Permalink
getreal (not verified)

@Kerr: let's get real. "One of the subjects in the vehicle reached for something under the seat," said Schrock.  It's only that officer's word that anyone was even reaching for anything.  I would suggest you're being naive to take that at her word.  What would you expect a cop to say after murdering someone?  Anything they can to have it deemed "justifiable."

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 8:59pm Permalink
twosides (not verified)

I saw some video footage a while ago, allegedly real, from a sheriff's car video camera, that showed him pulling over a guy in a pickup truck.  It was in a rural area, in Georgia or South Carolina, I can't remember exactly.  The guy got out of his truck, did some sort of song & dance (most likely he was on something), & even tried to scuffle with the sheriff.  (The sheriff had a gun, but I think it was still in the holster.)  Then the guy reached into his pickup truck, pulled out a gun, and tragically the sheriff became the loser in the gunfight that resulted.

I'm sure that situations like this are a significant part of a police officer's training.  Maybe the officer in this more recent situation didn't have access to non-lethal weapons.  Or maybe she did.  Maybe backup wasn't readily available.  Or maybe it was.  We don't know any of that.  It's easy to critique this incident from in front of a computer screen, with plenty of time to mull over it, but what would any of you do if you were actually a cop in a situation like this, where you had to think fast?

What would you do if you were the suspect?

This is an incident with a tragic outcome.  But, if events really did unfold as described in the article, then both parties made some very bad decisions.  The first one led to the second one.

Thu, 01/19/2012 - 1:32pm Permalink
Valseedian (not verified)

I'd legalize drugs and completely remove the cause of the confrontation in the first place.

Fri, 01/20/2012 - 1:27pm Permalink
Drdrew420 (not verified)

How about waiting till you are actually threatened. How about you actually see a gun? Or the suspect actually has a weapon? I know if I am threatened 90% of the time, I can remove myself without shooting any one, and I don't have a bullet proof vest or 100's of allies I can call on the radio. How many of us do they kill because they feel threatened? I feel threatened every time I see one of them. They are the problem. They should be disarmed and given cameras to record all those horrible offenses they now molest and kill us for committing. They could then peacefully review the tape, check plates, match up descriptions and issue warrants. No one was in danger until the cop arrived with her moral superiority, her gun, and her fear. Why? Because she was forcibly molesting and happily persecuting otherwise harmless citizens going about their own business. What exactly does it take to look like a drug deal? Hand your buddy the five bucks you owe him? Fit the profile? Wrong area? Skin color? Fuck the police, most are Nazi thugs, and have never helped protect you or me or our property. But many have violated my rights with impunity, stolen my property, and terrorized peaceful people. I know lots of good cops. Any who think for themselves should be members of LEAP, if they can be without losing their jobs. Sorry for the rant. Put fucking cameras on anyone who carries a gun to "protect" us, then we could all see the events that lead to thousands of unarmed people being killed in the name of public safety.
Fri, 01/20/2012 - 1:34am Permalink

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