May 12, 2022
UPDATE: 5/12/2022 12:00pm
This update is required in compliance with WAC 139-12, which mandates weekly updates be sent out by the lead investigative agency for investigations where a Washington State Peace Officer uses deadly force in the capacity of his or her law enforcement duties. These updates are required even if no new information is available at the time of the update.
Skagit County – SMART is sending out this release as an update regarding the independent investigation into the death of 51-year-old David A. Babcock of Concrete, WA.
This week as part of the ongoing process, SMART investigators are conducting a peer review of their technical report. The Washington State Patrol Crime Scene Response Team report is still pending.
The next scheduled press release will be on May 19th, 2022. If there’s a significant update in the investigation information will be released prior to then.
With the passage of Washington State Initiative 940 in 2018, and Substitute House Bill 1064 in 2019, incidents where the use of deadly force by a peace officer results in death, substantial bodily harm, or great bodily harm require an independent investigation. This investigation must be conducted in the same manner as a criminal investigation and state law now requires an “independent investigation” completely independent of the involved agency.
Previous press releases can be found at http://www.skagitcounty.net/SMART/HTML/cases.htm .