A Lakewood officer found to have acted with “deliberate indifference” for his role in the death of a Black man in 2013 was never disciplined or given additional training by the police department even after a federal jury found he violated several civil rights.

Now, prosecutors are deciding whether that officer should face criminal charges in the fatal shooting of another Black man last year.

Mike Wiley, 51, has worked in law enforcement for nearly 20 years and been with Lakewood police for 17 years. His personnel file is exemplary except for two reprimands related to patrol car violations and two complaints that were not sustained.

The file holds no mention of his involvement in the May 23, 2013, death of Leonard Thomas, even though Wiley led the Metro Pierce County SWAT Team that blew open Thomas’ back door. Wiley also was found to have fired at least one of the four shots that killed the family’s dog, Baxter.

The city paid Thomas’ family $13.1 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit after a federal jury found police committed 14 civil rights violations that night, including excessive force. That amount was initially $15.3 million but the city appealed, then later agreed to the lesser payout.

Wiley’s actions, along with two others, were singled out for being egregious and leading to Thomas’ unnecessary death. The three officers were hit with a combined $6.5 million in punitive damages.

Wiley has used force 24 times during his career in Lakewood, records say, but firing his department-issued weapon in the Thomas case is not included in a use-of-force history sent by the department to investigators looking into the May 1, 2020, fatal shooting of Said Joquin during a traffic stop.

The instances where he used forced, which range from deploying a Taser to various physical force, were found to be within policy. There is no record of him shooting a gun on duty. Wiley has used a lateral vascular neck restraint four times, records say.

Jack Connelly, an attorney representing the families of both Thomas and Joquin, said that’s because Police Chief Mike Zaro and other city officials have been protecting Wiley for years.

“The issue with Wiley is that these things shouldn’t be happening. They’re not following police protocols. Something needs to be done,” Connelly said. “There is no question that Wiley does not understand his role as a police officer. He’s an overly aggressive man who likes to use weapons. He does not know how to de-escalate a situation. Is he a danger to the community? Absolutely.”

Zaro declined to answer questions for this story, saying he didn’t want to influence the process or prosecutors’ decision on the Joquin case. City Manager John J. Caulfield also declined to comment for the story because Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett is reviewing criminal charges against Wiley.

“Until her review is complete, we cannot comment about Said Joquin or Officer Wiley,” city spokesman Jim Kopriva said in an email. “We do not wish to influence her process. Once she concludes her review, we will have more to say.”

Wiley’s attorney, Jim David, did not respond to several requests for comment. The Lakewood Police Independent Guild did not respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors have been reviewing the Joquin case since March 8 and are expected to decide soon whether Wiley should face criminal charges for the Joquin shooting.

Adam Faber, spokesman for the Prosecutor’s Office, said Wiley’s involvement in the Thomas case will be considered as would “anything that might add to our total understanding of the situation.”

The Police Department has already determined Wiley acted within policy, and he is back on duty.

Nearly 2,400 people have signed a petition on Change.org expressing concern about the officer remaining on the force.

“The Lakewood Police Department must be held accountable for these injustices and immediately fire Officer Mike Wiley to prevent any further deaths in our community and serve Justice for Said Joquin,” the page reads.

Wiley, who is Asian, was born in Moline, Illinois, and attended Seoul American High School in South Korea before getting an associate’s degree at Pierce College in 1999, majoring in technology.

He served in the U.S. Army as an intelligence sergeant for 1st Special Forces Group at Fort Lewis from May 1995 to December 1997, according to his resume.

Wiley also worked as a conductor for BNSF Railway for 4-1/2 years and as a pistol and rifle instructor for the Washington State National Guard.

He started his law enforcement career with the Seattle Police Department in March 2002 and stayed for 22 months before applying to the Lakewood Police Department. In his application, Wiley wrote he wanted to work closer to home and it was important for him to serve in his own community.

He has held many roles with Lakewood police: instructor at the shooting range, SWAT, member of the Bar Sweep Team battling drunken driving, police training officer, patrol, member of the Property Proactive Unit and a support counselor with the Peer Support Team. Wiley also received permission from the department to take on side security gigs with a movie theater, bar and Pierce Transit.

Wiley earned $105,522 in 2020 and speaks Korean, records say.

His personnel file includes two reprimands. The first came in June 2011 after he took his patrol car to Yakima for non-department training. Wiley was ordered to reimburse the city for $66.65 in gas and forfeit his city car for 30 days. The second reprimand was from May 30, 2014, after he struck the back of a vehicle because he was following too closely.

Two complaints were filed against him in 2015 and 2016. A husband called to say Wiley used cuss words during a traffic stop with his wife and was “rude and disrespectful,” but didn’t leave a phone number for Internal Affairs to follow up. Another man claimed Wiley and a second officer handcuffed him for a crime that didn’t happen and requested that they be suspended and attend sensitive training.

“I guess I should be lucky that they didn’t kill me and say that I resisted arrest,” the man said, according to the complaint.

Wiley’s personnel file also includes multiple commendations for everything from helping serve a search warrant to training special agents headed for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He earned the police chief’s commendation in December 2018 for his years-long coordination and instruction with the department’s active shooter training.

The racially charged case of Thomas, who was killed by a sniper bullet while clutching his 4-year-old son on the front porch of their Fife home, has been closed for years.

Former Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindquist found officers were justified in their actions. The City of Lakewood paid out one of the most expensive police deadly force settlements in the state to Thomas’ family. The officers went back to work.

It’s not something, however, that Thomas’ parents and son have been able to move on from.

His mother, who is white, thinks daily about her son who loved to joke around, once jumped out of a wrapped Christmas box to surprise her and who had permanent grass stains on his pants because he was always crawling around on the ground with his boy. She regrets calling the police for help the night Thomas died.

His father, who is Black, remembers being handcuffed and led to a patrol car at gunpoint for stepping onto his own property the night Thomas was killed. A federal judge later included $500,000 in the award settlement for his arrest after he came to the scene and asked to help negotiate with his son.

Thomas’ son Elijah, who is now 13, thinks of Thomas as “the greatest dad in the whole wide world.”

Thomas and Elijah lived together at the Fife home. Thomas made a living doing auto body work, didn’t have a criminal record and had been sober for 18 months before the night he died.

Overcome with grief over the death of a childhood friend, Thomas had a few drinks, and his mother tried and failed to convince her son to let her take Elijah for the evening.

“I was afraid Leonard would pass out, fall asleep and then Elijah might need something,” Annalesa Thomas said. “Leonard never, ever threatened police. He never threatened to harm himself. And he certainly never threatened to harm Elijah.”

She called 911 out of frustration, hoping officers would convince Thomas to hand over the boy.

The incident turned into a four-hour standoff that brought a SWAT team with more than 20 officers and an armored vehicle to Thomas’ front yard.

Thomas initially refused to come outside when ordered by police, according to the investigation. He eventually agreed to let Annalesa Thomas take Elijah and stepped onto the front porch with his backpack and car seat.

The SWAT team blew open the back door just as Thomas agreed to a hostage negotiator to let his son go, testimony from court showed.

When Thomas heard explosives being used and shots fired at his dog, he reached for Elijah, according to court testimony. A sniper hidden across the street with a .308-caliber precision rifle shot Thomas in the stomach when he reached for the child.

Officers testified they had to pry the child out of his father’s arms as Thomas, who was bleeding to death, begged them not to hurt his boy.

The sniper provided a written statement that referred to Elijah as a hostage and said he fired to save the boy’s life. Police later said they thought Thomas was using his son as a shield, dangled the boy from a second-story window and was holding him hostage.

“The Lakewood Police Department is always reviewing its practices and procedures for improvement, but is confident the officers involved in this incident acted appropriately given the circumstances they faced,” the city wrote in a 2018 statement.

“I won’t say he’s racist because I don’t know what’s in his heart,” Annalesa Thomas said about Wiley. “But clearly, he shows absolutely no regard for human life.”

Wiley was criticized by another family after he fatally shot Joquin May 1, 2020.

After Joquin allegedly ran a stop sign, Wiley pulled him over. The officer spotted a gun in the vehicle, on the driver’s side floorboard, and ordered Joquin and his passenger to keep their hands above their heads. Shortly after Wiley warned Joquin to keep his hands up or he’d be shot, gunshots rang out, according to the investigation.

Wiley shot Joquin three times, according to the autopsy report.

In a written statement given to investigators, Wiley said he shot Joquin because he believed Joquin was reaching for the weapon at his feet.

Investigators later said a handgun was found in the vehicle.

Joquin’s family does not believe Wiley’s story.

“I feel like it was overkill,” said Dawn Kortner, Joquin’s mother. “He took steps that shouldn’t have been taken. I feel like he was being overly aggressive, and I want him to be held accountable for what he did. He shouldn’t get a pension and sit at home and enjoy his kids when we can’t enjoy Said anymore.”

Joquin moved from North Carolina to Tacoma in 2019 with his long-term girlfriend. He got a job unpacking trucks at Yuestin Logistics, spent his off time skateboarding and was known for making people laugh, especially if they were having a hard day.

A wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Lakewood has yet to be resolved. Kortner and Joquin’s sister are asking for $25 million.

The claim alleges the city “unreasonably and recklessly” continued to employ the officers and promoted Zaro to chief despite the jury’s findings that Thomas’ civil-rights were violated and that Zaro attempted to cover up mistakes by personally investigating and clearing himself and the other officers afterward.

Zaro, as the assistant chief, later oversaw the internal investigation into the shooting that cleared everybody involved.

Connelly, the family’s attorney, said justice needs to be done and Wiley needs to be fired and criminally charged.

“It’s the second unnecessary killing of a young Black man he’s been involved in,” he said.