Wrongful death suit claims a police officer’s lie led a Seattle man to take his own life

Concerned, Parks called Feller and told him that the officer said the crash had left someone critically injured, she said. Although Feller, 40, initially didn’t think he had hit anyone, in the coming days he became worried he had hurt a pedestrian and could face prison time, his friends said.

Feller injected himself with a fatal mix of drugs on June 3, 2018, five days after the collision. Marderosian, who was Feller’s roommate, found his body, the lawsuit says. Feller’s mother previously told The Seattle Times she believed he suffered from untreated depression.

Although ruses and lies are valid law-enforcement tactics, “they should be used only when necessary because unnecessary lies breed a lack of trust” in police, Maxwell said. He said the hit-and-run crash Feller was involved in caused only a couple hundred dollars in damage to another vehicle.

During an internal investigation by the Office of Police Accountability (OPA), Kerby claimed he used the ruse because he needed Feller’s phone number quickly — which Parks gave him — but then failed to pass it along to the officer who had requested it, Marshall said.

“The whole thing was just a tragic, unnecessary loss,” he said.

Dan Nolte, a spokesperson for Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, said in an email, “We are reviewing the complaint and intend to investigate the brought claims in this matter.”