Hamre

MEMORANDUM *

After a neighbor complained about noise coming from Steven Hamre’s house while *262 Hamre and his relatives were working on a backyard deck, Officer Eric White of the City of Bothell Police Department responded to the scene. Many details of the ensuing encounter between Hamre and White are disputed, but it is undisputed that Hamre used foul language and rudely told White to get off his property after learning that White did not have a warrant. It is also undisputed that more than five weeks later, White filed citations charging Hamre with (1) reckless endangerment; (2) disorderly conduct; and (3) fourth degree assault. The judge dismissed the first two charges and acquitted Hamre of the third because of insufficient evidence that Hamre intended to create fear in the mind of Officer White, a required element of fourth degree assault in Washington.

Hamre subsequently filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington against White, the City of Bothell, Bothell Police Chief Mark Ericks, and three other Bothell police officers identified as John Does I through III, claiming that his arrest and prosecution based on…