Police Chief Sam Granato on Monday expressed sadness at the weekend suicide of one of his former officers, saying the tragic case highlights the need for law-enforcement personnel to manage the effects of their stressful jobs.
"Stress and depression kill more police officers than anything else," Granato said, making it "very important that police understand they're human, and that they reach out and get help when they need it."
Fired Yakima police officer Mike Rummel, 41, shot himself to death Sunday afternoon following a police pursuit that ended when Rummel pulled into the driveway of a home where he had been living outside of Toppenish.
A state trooper tried to stop Rummel's Ford Taurus after the car nearly hit him head-on while traveling through the S-curves on Lateral A near McDonald Road, the Washington State Patrol reported.
The Taurus came through radar at 80 mph and kept weaving during the pursuit, which reached speeds between 30 and 60 mph, according to updated information released by the patrol after a first news conference at the scene.
Patrol detectives are continuing to investigate the pursuit and whatever clues they can gather about Rummel's activities before he encountered the trooper, Sgt. Ed McAvoy said.
Rummel, who had struggled with alcohol use and severe depression, had been described by a former supervisor and police union official as a good officer. He was a Yakima officer for about five years and worked at the Selah Police Department before that.
"I lost a friend of mine yesterday ...," Detective Mike Nielsen, the newly elected president of the Yakima police union, said Monday evening.
Nielsen said he would not comment further beyond recognizing Rummel as someone who was loved and would be missed by many in the department.
Less than 48 hours after his death, union officials and others were not ready to discuss whether two lawsuits related to Rummel's 2005 firing would proceed.
The former officer's estate could theoretically take over Rummel's claim in federal court that he was unfairly fired. His Seattle attorneys did not return messages left at their offices Monday afternoon.
Any notice of appeal in the second lawsuit -- in which the city was found to be justified in firing Rummel for violations of a last-chance agreement imposed because of a 2002 drunken-driving arrest -- is due next Monday.
The case involves a key issue for the union and the city -- whether binding arbitration should be respected as the final outcome in personnel cases and other disputes between the two sides. An arbitrator had supported Rummel's return to the force, saying evidence suggested that Granato had retaliated against the union's resistance to random drug testing by firing Rummel.
Granato has denied any retaliation, an assertion he repeated Monday in an interview with the Yakima Herald-Republic.
Granato, who became chief in 2003, said Rummel's case was among a handful of drug-related personnel matters that prompted him to create a peer-counseling program within the department four years ago.
When the stress of a dangerous, demanding job piles up on officers, they need to know they can seek treatment without stigma or kickback from management, Granato said, noting that such health care is confidential unless it involves a direct threat to the patient or others.
National statistics indicate police officers are two to three times more likely to kill themselves than they are to die in the line of duty, Granato said.
The city offers a general counseling program for employees, but Granato suggested that the department should have a specialized program for police staff.
Granato said that early in the personnel case that led to Rummel's termination, he had unsuccessfully pushed him to seek inpatient treatment, which the chief has said proves most beneficial in serious cases.
Granato said he regretted that Rummel's case had become intertwined with what he described as union politics.
"He felt it was him and the union against me, and it shouldn't have been that way," Granato said, adding he once went on a fishing trip with Rummel.
Rummel, who had a young son who lives out of town with his mother, had worked in the construction industry since being fired.
His actions in the hours before his death at a home on Campbell Road west of Toppenish remained under investigation.
McAvoy, the patrol spokesman, said Rummel shot himself with a 9mm Glock. It's a common police sidearm, but investigators had not confirmed whether it was Rummel's department-issued pistol.
Also under examination was whether it was legal for Rummel to possess the gun if it was loaded and in a car.
Rummel's concealed-pistol license expired in 1996, but McAvoy said detectives were still checking to see whether it had been updated since then.
Possession of a loaded handgun in a car would typically be illegal for a civilian without a valid permit.
McAvoy said no policy violations have surfaced in an initial review of the trooper's decision to start the pursuit.
Rummel may have been coming from a party at a private home, McAvoy said. Toxicology tests will determine whether he had been drinking; beer cans were found in his car, authorities said.
Friends and relatives described Rummel, part of a longtime Yakima Valley family, as a giving man who often helped friends with building projects.
Family members, who requested privacy, have not released any public information about funeral services.
In a Monday morning briefing for reporters at City Hall, City Manager Dick Zais emphasized that he and other officials were saddened by Rummel's death.
"Those are circumstances you would never want to see happen again ... Our heart goes out to his friends and family."
If a fund is established for Rummel's son, Zais said, "I'd be the first to step up and make a contribution to it."
--Mark Morey can be reached at 577-7671 or mmorey@yakimaherald.com.
--Chris Bristol can be reached at 577-7748 or cbristol@yakimaherald.com. To see more of the Yakima Herald-Republic or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.yakima-herald.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, Yakima Herald-Republic, Wash. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2009, Yakima Herald-Republic, Wash.