Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 850661.pdf

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enclosed parking garage (the West Garage). Each day, multiple vehicles at a

given time are in the West Garage with their engines idling. These patrol vehicles

produce car exhaust containing, among other substances harmful to human

health, CO—a colorless, odorless gas that causes oxygen deprivation when

inhaled. SPD officers inhale this car exhaust in the West Garage, and a hole in

the wall also allowed this exhaust to flow into the sergeants’ office located adjacent

to the garage. Symptoms of CO poisoning include headaches, fatigue, nausea,

coughing, shortness of breath, dizziness, lack of concentration, memory loss, and

difficulty sleeping.

Around 2015, SPD began equipping its patrol vehicles with a technology

known as “Idleright,” which turns on the engine when the battery runs low in order

to continue powering the in-vehicle computer. In March 2015, Assistant Chief

Steven Wilske instructed officers to use Idleright “whenever you can versus leaving

[a vehicle] idling for long periods,” but clarified, “[Y]ou can’t use [Idleright] inside,

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For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
No. 85066-1-I

so West [Precinct officers] . . . have to park on the street during the shift.” After

learning that several Idleright-equipped vehicles had been left inside the West

Garage without turning off both the engine and Idleright, Lieutenant Thomas

Mahaffey reminded West Precinct staff to turn off both the engine and Idleright

when returning a patrol car because “[i]dling of cars unnecessarily . . . makes for

excess carbon monoxide in the garage.”

In May 2016, the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) detected high levels of CO

in the West Garage and warned West Precinct staff that the ventilation system was