The night of Jan. 23, 2021, was one of complete chaos in downtown Tacoma. It was on that night when a large crowd gathered on South Ninth Street and South Pacific Avenue to watch cars racing and burning rubber in circles on the street. The incident led to a Tacoma police officer driving into a crowd of spectators during a law enforcement response that is being criticized as a blatant display of excessive force.
According to newly elected Tacoma City Council member Jamika Scott, that excessive force didn’t end once the area was brought under control. In addition to Anthony Huff-McKay being run over by a police SUV, she was arrested and taken to jail a few hours later after everything had seemingly calmed down. Now, both have filed suit against the city of Tacoma for bodily harm and violations of their civil rights.
For Huff-McKay, he says he is still living the nightmare of believing he was going to die under the wheels of Tacoma Police Officer Khanh Phan’s patrol vehicle. The suit claims the car meet attendees gathered in the intersection and tensions rose as Phan attempted to push through the crowd using his patrol car. The complaint states that instead of reversing his vehicle and de-escalating the situation, Phan accelerated through the crowd, hitting multiple individuals and running over Huff-McKay with the wheels of his patrol car. In his defense, Phan stated that he feared for his life when his vehicle was surrounded by the crowd of approximately 100 people, some who were seen on multiple videos kicking and punching his police SUV. Phan was not charged with any crimes.
Recounting the traumatic experience, Huff-McKay said, “As the patrol car hit me, I was overwhelmed by a fear for my life. That memory haunts me continually, impacting my daily life.”
Huff-McKay’s attorney Austin Neff said his client suffered catastrophic bodily injuries including broken ribs, a torn ACL and cartilage tear, a partially collapsed lung and wounds to his abdomen, feet and hands. Neff said Huff-McKay had surgery on his knee that provided some relief but that he would still be prevented from certain physical activities.
“Mentally, it’s not something that he’s ever going to forget – the memory of being rolled over by that car and thinking he was going to die in that moment,” Neff said. “That is something that sticks with you for the rest of your life.”
Scott had arrived at the downtown scene several hours after Huff-McKay was injured. A well-known and engaged community activist and advocate, it was not unusual for Scott to have been there. She said that she felt it was necessary for her presence to “offer a pair of eyes and bear witness” to what was going on and to capture it on her cell phone camera.
“We recently had to deal with the loss of Manny Ellis in a way that became apparent to me even more so that we have a police force that, at times if they’re not being watched, will do things that are in their best interest and not the community at large,” Scott told the Tacoma Weekly. “If nothing was going on and there was an independent agency investigating, that’s what I could go back and tell my community that I saw with my own eyes.”
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Councilmember Jamika Scott is advocating for community trust in TPD. |
Her attorney, Beverly Allen, pointed out that only Tacoma police were on scene, and it was a Tacoma police officer who ran into the crowd.
“By that point, there was concern that there were no independent agencies. That’s why Councilmember Scott and others were staying right before the (police) decided to push them out of the area. They pointed out that they were there to do citizen oversight.”
When Scott, and a small group of others, refused to stop filming and to clear the area, she was arrested and transported to the jail unlawfully as stated in her lawsuit: “Ms. Scott was unlawfully imprisoned for several painful hours, her handcuffs loosened only one single click by jailors. Furthermore, as part of the booking process, Ms. Scott was forced strip down; made to choose between wearing jail issued underwear or none at all; produce a urine sample; be fingerprinted and photographed; all while being led to believe that she would likely have to spend the weekend in jail. No charges were ever filed because no crime was committed by Ms. Scott.”
Both Huff-McKay and Scott are seeking yet to be determined financial damages and both say that beyond this, they are taking legal action for police accountability and to push for better training for officers.
“Our investigation has revealed that Officer Phan didn’t have the proper training to manage the situation. We think that’s where the city of Tacoma comes into play – he was not trained on how to de-escalate this type of situation where members of the public, whether it’s protestors or in this case individuals who are watching a car meet, approached his vehicle,” Neff said. “That de-escalation training is critical, and we think that if he had that, this could have easily been avoided. There was no reason that he had to accelerate and run over folks who were in front of his car.”
Huff-McKay’s case was filed in Pierce County Superior Court on Jan. 19 and the trial is set for July 17, 2025.
Scott says the city has failed Tacoma when it comes to providing adequate training and holding our systems of safety to the high standard the community deserves, and states that she believes essential services provided by city employees are too often not delivered equitably.
“The community is asking to trust. They want to have a police force they can trust and a safety plan they can believe in,” Scott said. “But they need the police, city administration, and the council to meet them halfway. If there’s not going to be a little give on both sides, it’s not going to work out. With independent oversight, it’s going to help us build trust. Ultimately, we’re trying to get at building that trust and get to systems that actually work for people.”
Scott’s suit also names 10 Tacoma police officers in addition to the city of Tacoma. No jury trial date has yet been set.
