Families of slain Lakewood officers to sue for $182 million

That question is at the heart of claims totaling $182 million being filed by the families of the slain Lakewood police officers.

The widows believe that if someone had been listening to Clemmons' jailhouse phone calls, their husbands could still be alive today.

"This could have been stopped, and who's next? I don't want anybody else to go through this," Kelly Richards said in an exclusive interview with KOMO News.

Kelly's husband, officer Greg Richards, was among four police officers shot to death by Clemmons on Nov. 29 at a coffee shop in Parkland.

Sgt. Mark Renninger and officers Ronald Owens and Tina Griswold were also killed in the shooting.

The widows say their decision to sue was not taken lightly.

"I want to do the right thing. I want to make sure I do what Mark would want us to do," said Kim Renninger.

The attorney for the families of the three officers says Clemmons should never have had the chance to pull the trigger.

"This wasn't an accident. It was a planned, calculated execution," said attorney Bob Christie.

Christie said Clemmons' plans to kill police officers are crystal clear in the recorded phone calls Clemmons made while behind bars in the Pierce County jail.

"He said on September 27, two days after the fourth time he was booked into the facility: 'This is the strategy. I"m going to kill police officers. I'm going to kill as many as I can. I'm going to shoot them in the head' and he said that with chilling specificity," Christie said.

In the nine hours of jailhouse recordings, Clemmons repeatedly professed his hatred for police and plans to kill them

"(I'm) gonna go kill as many of those devils as I can until I can't kill no more, that's the strategy," Clemmons is heard saying on one of the tapes. "The next time the police pull me over, I am going to shoot him dead in his face. I swear, brother. I am gonna see somebody crying at some funerals."

While they were recorded, the calls from the Pierce County Jail were never monitored. No one heard them.

"I'm angry, but give me time and I'm going to be more angry," Kim Renninger said. "Just to know what he said over and over and over. And nothing was done."

Kelly Richards said she couldn't believe the things that could be said with no response from authorities.

The family's claim contends Clemmons threatened to kill jail staff as he was being booked. The threats could have been considered a violation of Clemmons' parole, which could have kept him in jail.

But, the suit claims, jail staff failed to report the threats to the Department of Corrections. Christie also says Clemmons tried to intimidate the girl he was accused of raping.

"The Pierce County Detective who was investigating the child rape charge against Clemmons, expressed concern that Clemmons was intimidating his rape victim and his wife, the victim's mother, while he was in jail. Despite this, Pierce County never listened to Clemmons' recorded conversations with his wife..and never reported to DOC his threat to kill jail staff," the claim states.

The claim is the first step toward a lawsuit.

"Nobody has come to us and said 'we're sorry we messed up, let us correct this,'" Kim said. "Nothing has been addressed with us at all, so we need to go to the next step and file the suit and make them held accountable for their actions. They messed up."

Kelly said they want to see changes in light of their husbands' murders.

"It happens, and it will probably happen again but if we can do something now, that's the only reason."

Pierce County sheriff spokesman Ed Troyer said the claim is all about money.

"The amounts of money they're asking for... is quite shocking," he said. "When you end up getting attorneys, money and greed, it's just a bad mix. It just shows that anybody can sue anybody, no matter how meritless it is. It's really going to hurt a lot of people."

Troyer said it was "preposterous" to think that the county could have listened to every phone call made from the jail.

"It would take over 40 people and $50 million a year to do," he said. "Plus, we don't even believe that it's legal just to randomly listen to people's phone calls on a full-time basis."

He said Clemmons made bail and there was no way the department could have kept him in jail.

Troyer said the department learned of the claim on Thursday through attorneys.

"It upset pretty much everbody that was involved. Our hearts still go out to the families," he said. "We take it personally. We've done so much for them, and we miss them just like their families do."

The families insist their claim isn't about the money.

"To be honest, that's the struggle... no it's not about money," said Renninger. "But how do you make a change without suing someone for money? I don't think there's a way. And so by suing for money that draws attention to make change. That's why we're doing this."

The widows say their lawsuit won't bring a father back to their children, but they hope it will prevent the pain for someone else.

"Their mothers have been strong enough to take what some may view as a controversial step to demand what their husbands were demanded to do every day: simply step forward and be accountable for what you do," Christie said.

Christie wants Pierce County to be accountable to the tune of $58 million each for the families of Richards and Renninger, and $18 million for the Owens family.

Later Thursday, the family of Tina Griswold filed a separate claim of $48 million against Pierce County.

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