Legal Commentary

A Bad Night in Post Alley

By TChris

Seattle Police Officer Zsolt Dornay made a mistake.

Just after midnight, Dornay was riding through Post Alley when his mirror bumped Lisabeth Dias, a paralegal who was leaving Kells Irish Pub. The officer was in street clothes and had finished his shift. Dias took umbrage with him riding through the crowded alley and straddled the front wheel of his motorcycle.

Mistake 1: Don't mess with paralegals. After arguing with Dias and her boss, Dornay made his second mistake.

Dornay, who said he identified himself as a police officer, drove forward with Dias clinging to the windshield.

Mistake 2: Don't try to drive a motorcycle with a paralegal clinging to the windshield, while her boss and a whole group of people are there to witness your reckless conduct. [more ...]

Things quickly got ugly, with too many mistakes by everyone involved to begin adding them up. It nonetheless seems fair to say that shooting the lawyer was mistake 3.

Dornay grabbed the woman and pushed her against a garage door, drawing the attention of several men. The group then turned into a mob that punched, kicked and stomped the officer, causing him to briefly lose consciousness. He reached for his .40-caliber Glock and fired several shots.

Who made the most mistakes will be decided by the jury that hears the lawsuit filed by the paralegal's boss, who didn't appreciate being shot given that he wasn't part of the mob attacking the officer. Dornay has countersued, claiming the unarmed lawyer "was coming toward him and about to kick him when he fired," an allegation the lawyer (who had a good bit to drink and undoubtedly had a chivalrous interest in rescuing his paralegal, knowing how difficult it is to find a good one) denies.

It's difficult to understand why Dornay is deemed fit to carry a badge and gun, given this:

But he's also been disciplined for misconduct, including an off-duty road rage episode as a rookie when he held a gun to man's head and rubbed his face into the surface of a parking lot.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 04, 2008 (boomark / email).