Husband Of Missing Utah Mom Stirs Controversy Over Joining PTA

PUYALLUP - It's been 9 months since his wife disappeared under mysterious circumstances and questions still surround Josh Powell. But, it's what he plans to do at his son's school that has some parents concerned.

Powell's been surrounded in suspicion for the last nine months since his wife Susan Cox vanished from her Utah home. But, he seems to be moving on with his life. He's living in Puyallup sending his son to school and even signing up for the PTA, although that's not going over well with fellow parents.

David Quantrell is passionate about his kids and like most parents that includes being passionate about protecting them.

"I definitely don't want him around my kids," said Quantrell.

"Him" is Josh Powell, David's neighbor who he says informed the PTA at their kids' elementary school that he wants to get involved.

"It is a bit of a concern and fear for the kids. I mean if he would do something to his wife who knows if he would do something to someone he doesn't know or a kid he doesn't know," said Quantrell.

David says he's so upset about Josh Powell possibly volunteering his time at Carson Elementary that he's willing to start his own petition drive to get parents to sign it to keep Powell out of the school's PTA.

It was last December when Powell's wife Susan disappeared. He says he'd taken their two young sons camping that night around midnight in freezing cold temperatures near their Utah home. Investigators say he's their only person of interest in the case, though they've never gone so far as calling him a suspect.

The difference does nothing to reassure parents like Eric and Amanda Rouse

"I wouldn't want my kids to be around that you know, I just don't trust him just based on what we know," said Rouse.

That's why Amanda says they're thinking twice about joining the PTA.

"We're all interested in the safety of our children and what happens to them. I'm sorry it's just too weird of a situation to not be concerned about it," said Rouse.

Q13 Fox News went to Powell's house Tuesday evening to get his side of this story nobody would come to the door.

David Quantrell's words are passionate and so are his actions. He says he'll do whatever it takes to keep Powell away from his kids.

"I'd like for him to be able to bring his kids to school, I'd like the kids to be involved in the school as much as possible, but as for him I'd like him to stay away from the school," said Quantrell.

Though, ultimately that'll be up to the Carson Elementary PTA.

Carson Elementary PTA President Holly Mickel gave Q13 Fox News this statement on Tuesday about Powell's application.

"Our PTA membership is open to anyone who would like to join and is interested in helping the children of Carson Elementary reach their full potential. All of our volunteers are required to complete the background check through the School District before volunteering.

After So Many Cop Shootings Public Wonders If Non Lethal Alternatives Would Work Instead

SEATTLE - Six Officer involved incidents that have left 5 people dead another injured in a week. Many people are asking can Police protect the public without using lethal force. Some believe new technology that doesn't require bullets or an electrical charge is the answer.

One of those options could be the Dazer Laser. Ryan Battis with Laser Energetics explains.

"They are non-lethal, less violent, visual impairment ocular distracters," said Battis.

According to Battis the crime fighting tool doesn't require bullets from a gun or an electrical jolt from a taser.

"What that means is that we use a green laser to impair the vision of a subject so they cannot judge distances, judge shadows or engage an Officer because he can't see," said Battis.

The Dazer Laser is designed to stun someone so an Officer can take them down. But, Veteran cops like Sergeant Frank Kampsen aren't sold just yet on laser beam law enforcement.

"You hit a guy with a light, the bright light and maybe he can't see he's still got a weapon in his hands, I'm not going to take him while he's still got it in his hand, it's just not going to happen," said Kampsen.

Seattle Police are looking into getting the Dazer Laser but the Department doesn't have the money for it right now.

Another high-tech gizmo that provides transparency and accountability for Officer's actions are portable cameras they can wear. One of those products is made by Vievu. The camera can be clipped to the Officer and records everything he or she does like handling traffic stops or dealing with armed suspects.

Seattle City Councilman Bruce Harrell pitched the idea for the cameras. The Council is considering having Officers wear them on the beat sometime in the future.

"It protects the rights of citizens, as well as rights of Officers, you'd be hard pressed to convince me this isn't the right way to go to improve public safety efforts for our city," said Harrell.

Right now, Officers in Orting are testing a camera much like the Vievu. Lake Forest Park and Blaine Police Departments have also tried out the cameras.

Frank Kampsen says these crime fighting gizmos may help but can't replace good old fashioned Police work. Especially when it comes to saving lives.

"But, we need the public to understand if we get into a situation, sometimes we have to use deadly force, what we mean by that, we have to stop that individual from doing us further harm or anybody else further harm," said Kampsen.

Getting Officers to wear those cameras in Seattle might take some work. They are expensive and the budget is tight. The ACLU has had problems with the cameras in the past, and the Seattle Police Officer's Guild is concerned the cameras might discourage people from giving tips.

Second Time In A Week Cops Use A Taser And The Suspect Dies

GOLD BAR - For the second time in a week Police whip out their tasers shock a suspect that that person then dies. The latest incident happened early this morning in Gold Bar where Snohomish County Sheriff's Deputies used a stun gun on a 25 year old Sultan man.

The incident happened outside Sharon Williams's house.

"I think that two trained officers should have been able to subdue a 120 pound dude that was barefoot in my yard and not tase him right in the chest," said Williams.

For the last year and a half Adam Colliers has spent his weekends at Williams' home taking care of her quadriplegic brother. But, early this morning things were different.

"It was very obvious to my brother he was not in his right mind at the moment, whether or not he became threatening I don't know that," said Williams.

Sergeant Robert Goetz with the Everett Police Department says Colliers charged the Deputies and they had to use force.

"Almost immediately after the taser was deployed the man appeared to stop breathing, the Deputies at that point started CPR," said Goetz.

Colliers later died at the hospital. The Snohomish County multi-agency response team is heading up the investigation. Both Deputies involved in the incident have three years each on the job.

Today, outside the place in Downtown Sultan where he sometimes stayed with his Dad friends like Theresa Young stopped by to pay her respects.

"When you lose somebody that you love so much I know that pain too well, so I just came to honor Adam," said Young.

Friends say Colliers loved to play guitar and just picked up the game of golf. Young says Colliers was quite an athlete and was once on the track and wrestling teams at Sultan High School.

"Really a great kid it's a tragedy I don't know everything that happened all I know is he's dead, so that's really just devastating," said Young.

Investigators will determine if drugs or alcohol contributed to Colliers death. Sharon Williams says her family has lost a good friend and believes his death could have been avoided if a taser was never used.

"They're trained to take people down you know, why not that first, the guy didn't even have a weapon," said Williams.

The Snohomish County Coroner will determine Colliers exact cause of death. The two Deputies involved in the tasing incident have been placed on paid administrative leave which is standard procedure.

Burien Family Is Saddened After Sheriff's Deputies Shoot And Kill Their Dog

BURIEN - A Burien family is grieving after their dog was shot and killed by a King County Sheriff's Deputy. Cops say they shot the dog when it charged them during a burglary call.

Russ Harper says his lovable pet never would have harmed anyone.

"We haven't slept for a few days you know it's just our dog was like our daughter," said Harper.

Harper says his 18 month old Rottweiler Nakita was a peaceful loving dog. That's why he asked a friend to let himself into their home earlier this week to fix a leaky pipe.

"Everybody that knew her knew she was the most non aggressive, beautiful heart-full dog," said Harper.

Sergeant John Urquhart with the King County Sheriff's Office says a neighbor thought Russ's friend was burglarizing the home and called the Cops.

"He opens the door wide enough, so the dog can go out a Rottweiler, the dog goes flying out of the house down the stairs across the yard and basically was in the process of trying to attack one of our deputies," said Urquhart.

"They told me they were forced to shoot my dog. You know I rushed home and got home there were Police everywhere and my dog is in a bloody bag at the bottom of the driveway," said Harper.

Russ's friend wasn't arrested for burglary but reckless endangerment. With his dog now dead Russ is left with bittersweet memories of where he used to take Nakita.

Russ's friends at Westcrest Dog Park like Clari Gomes say Nakita was sweet, and she was shocked to learn about her death.

"Nakita and Jack played together since she was a puppy and first started coming here, we just knew here as Nakita this very sweet, sweet dog, it's so sad," said Gomes.

Sergeant Urquhart says if Russ's friend would have controlled Nakita she'd still be alive.

"It's unfortunate because we don't like shooting dogs period, but sometimes it has to be done that's clearly what the case was here," said Urquhart.

Russ says he doesn't hold a grudge against the Deputies, but thinks they could have handled things differently.

"I don't feel the Police came to kill my dog it's not like that at all in my mind, I wish they could have waited an extra second to see what the dog was going to do," said Harper.

Russ says the reckless endangerment charge that was pending against his friend has been dropped.

Questions Raised Over Use Of Police Force After Two Deadly Incidents In Two Days In Seattle Area

SEATTLE - With two people dead and another in bad shape after run-ins with Police, there are a lot of people talking about how Officers go about their use of force. Many people in the community are wondering if Police Officers are going too far and using too much force.

In Spanaway David Fidler says he witnessed Pierce County Sheriff's Deputies using extreme force to take down the man who refused to leave an apartment unit.

"I heard the taser go off, four five times they tased him," said Fidler.

The 27 year old Spanaway man later died at the hospital. But, Doctor Jonathan Wender who is a University of Washington Professor and former Police Officer says that short electrical burst might not be to blame for his death.

"Most of these cases the death is not caused by the taser itself, the taser is proximately involved, energy conducting weapon is proximately involved, but it's not the cause per se of the death," said Wender.

It wasn't a taser but four shots from Seattle Police Officer Ian Birk's gun that killed John Williams. Deputy Chief Nick Metz says Officer Birk told investigators he felt threatened when Williams did not drop his knife.

"This officer was not equipped with a taser so he did not have that available to him, however, if he had a taser available to him, we do not recommend our officers use a taser in a situation like that, a knife is considered a deadly weapon," said Metz.

Jonathan Wender says it's still too early to tell if Birk handled the situation correctly.

"Somebody with a knife can cover distance very quickly and somebody armed with a knife can literally be on top of you and stabbing you in 1 or 2 seconds in a distance of 21 feet," said Wender.

Seattle Police Chief John Diaz says Officers are learning peaceful resolutions.

"We are working on a whole variety of de-escalation training, we currently do de-escalation training," said Diaz.

Jonathan Wender says Cops have to think on their feet in the field and that's far from easy.

"Officers have to perform a balancing act that's tactical and legal and ethical about what is what the law calls reasonable and necessary, what's the least amount of force an Officer can use to get that person safely into custody," said Wender.

That seems to be especially true in Spanaway when you have people like David Fidler second guessing your actions.

"Evidently, someone overreacted because he's dead," said Fidler.

Q13 Fox News has learned John Williams the man shot and killed by a Seattle Police Officer used to sell his artwork to the Ye Old Curiosity Shop down on Seattle's waterfront. The owner says the Williams family has sold Indian artwork to the shop for the last 100 years.

She's 68 Years Old Mad As Hell And Headed To Jail

Coupeville - She's 68 years old mad as hell and she's headed off to jail. A neighborly feud has landed Carol Magee in the big house. The Coupeville woman was convicted of destroying public property. Magee chose time behind bars to make her point.

"At first I put signs up going down Grateful Acres and then I said hell no, I'm going to put them out here where people can see it, they already know what they did," said Magee.

Carol Magee has some pretty strong opinions, and she wants the whole world to see them, especially now that she's a convicted felon.

"I thought a jury of my peers, little old ladies, but I didn't get a bunch of little old ladies," said Magee.

The whole hubbub is over Grateful Acres Place, the private road that runs on the edge of Magee's property. The private road she tried to keep private even though there's an easement that allows her neighbors to use it.

Carol used to have a gate on the road, but the neighbors tore it down. All that's left now is an old fence post that says liar's lane. Then, along came Puget Sound Energy to put a power box on it.

"This is the property line right here, that's where you can see the power comes up right here, why did they stick this over here it's in the middle of the road," said Magee.

Carol got so ticked off by the power box she ran it over. A neighbor shot video of her doing it.

"Yeah, I backed into it and pushed it off the pad, so, they figured it was worth 1,300 dollars and I said hell I could have put it back on for nothing. I don't want it here, it shouldn't be here," said Magee.

Carol acted as her own attorney in court against a charge of malicious mischief and lost.

"And, besides I wouldn't have gotten any jail time if I'd coped out to a felony, but I don't feel I committed a felony, not gonna do it," said Magee.

Carol's neighbors wouldn't go on camera but did tell me they've tried to explain to her several times where the property lines run and how the easement is divided up. But, they say she's having none of it, she's been combative even trying to block their driveways with her horse trailer.

It doesn't seem like Carol will be running out of strong words anytime soon even as she gets ready to go to jail. She says she doesn't regret her fight and still plans to sue some of her neighbors and PSE.

"It's just not right I'm not a felon, I'm just a personal property owner who's had enough," said Magee.

Carol will report Tuesday morning to the jail in Coupeville to begin her 30 day sentence. She'll also eventually have to pay over $2,000 in fines, court fees, and the cost of fixing that power box she hit.

Katrina Survivor Talks About Escaping Deadly Hurricane

SEATTLE - Tens of thousands of people were forced to evacuate from Hurricane Katrina, many of them left the devastation and were never able to return home because the storm wiped them out. Some of those evacuees like Mary Rennekamp ended up thousands of miles from home right here in the Seattle area.

Mary and her friend made it out of New Orleans just two days before the massive hurricane slammed into the Crescent City. 5 years later and it's still difficult for Mary to talk about Katrina.

"Reports of bodies tied to fences, because they were floating," said Rennekamp.

It's those disturbing images from Katrina burned into Mary's mind that still brings her to tears.

"It wasn't until those stories started coming in that it really started to sink in, the gravity and the magnitude of what was happening," said Rennekamp.

Mary and her friend Erin were two of the lucky ones to get out of New Orleans alive.

"The scariest thing was we couldn't pull ourselves away from the TV, we were so desperate to catch a glimpse of anybody we knew, possibly," said Rennekamp.

Mary's mid-city New Orleans home was underwater everything she owned destroyed.

"So, we knew in that span of that 3 or 4 days that we weren't going to be able to go back to New Orleans for a long time," said Rennekamp.

Mary's father got her a plane ticket to come live with him, she's been in Seattle ever since.

"And, I saw my Dad and I just lost it and I dropped my one little bag and literally just collapsed, he held me and I was balling in the middle of the airport," said Rennekamp.

The Red Cross helped Mary out then, she now works for the organization to help others trying to restart their lives.

"Being on the other side of charity was just it was life changing for me," said Rennekamp.

Mary knows she's lucky, she also knows she may see devastation like this again in her lifetime.

"Know it can happen anywhere, it's really scary, it's the truth," said Rennekamp.

Mary says she loves living in Seattle but, she will always call New Orleans home.