A teenager was shot to death in a department store parking lot, however, when police arrived they don’t bother using a police dog to track the fleeing suspect.
16-year-old Franklin Thananga was shot to death in a department store parking lot near Puyallup, southeast of Tacoma, the night of July 28. Witnesses told Pierce County sheriff’s deputies that the suspect, dressed in a black shirt and black pants, ran off across the parking lot and behind another store.
Within minutes after the fatal shooting, a deputy with a police dog arrived, but the deputy declined to use the dog to track the suspect, and other officers who searched the area came up empty.
In social media posts, the sheriff’s office suggested that because of a new law that changed when police can use force, the K9 handler “was unable to track with his K9 to search for the suspect who was seen fleeing by witnesses.”
That statement upset activists and relatives of those killed by police, who accused the sheriff’s office — along with other departments across the state — of a “disinformation campaign” aimed at undermining support for the reforms.
They noted that some departments had also claimed the new laws might hinder their ability to respond to “community care” calls or mental health crises — something a recent memo from the state attorney general’s office dispelled.
Prior to the new policing laws, police could use force to detain someone if they had reasonable suspicion. But with the new laws, police must now have a probable cause which is a higher standard and requires evidence that the person committed the crime before they can use force.
The suspect was located at his home on Aug. 10 and taken into custody without incident. He is facing first-degree murder charges.
“Detectives have worked very hard for the past two weeks piecing together evidence to make this arrest possible. We are hopeful that the arrest of the suspect in this case will bring a sense of justice being served for Franklin and his family. Detectives will still be working on this investigation as the Prosecutor’s Office prepares for the trial in this case,” The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook.
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