SPOKANE, Wash.- As Hoopfest was winding down, Mayor Nadine Woodward said she was at home, settling down for a nice evening. That’s when she heard a knock on her door. She says her Communication Director, Brian Coddington, was at the door with terrible news. A Spokane Police Officer had been shot.
“I put my hand over my mouth. I was surprised. Shocked. It’s the worst news anybody can hear. And I’m not even- I mean I think about the family. You never want to receive news like that. I never thought that I would as mayor.”
After getting briefed by her Chief of Police, Mayor Woodward addressed the media, with Chief Meidl by her side. “This violence must stop,” she said.
We sat down with the mayor today, to ask how. The mayor spoke about the creation of a Violent Crimes Task Force, and how new laws are hindering the way police can do their job. Mayor Woodward says she and the Chief have testified in Olympia about changing the laws, and she says she’ll continue doing so.
We asked her if she had hope that things will get better. “I do,” she told us. “You have to have hope. We’ve been through a lot as a community. With the summer of riots, with the pandemic, with drug issues. We’re addressing all of of those. It’s not easy. It’s not going to be solved overnight, just like our homeless issue. We have a housing crisis. I mean when you think about everything that we as a city are going through. We have big challenges on our hands. But I will never give up hope that we’ll continue to address them and be able to solve them as well.”
FOX28 Spokane©
