Times: City to pay nearly $1 million for wrecking home of Clemmons’ aunt during manhunt

During the manhunt for Maurice Clemmons, the man who killed four Lakewood police officers in November 2009, police surrounded the Leschi home belonging to Clemmons’ aunt after she tipped them off that he was there. Unknown to police, Clemmons escaped the home before they arrived. Officers fired dozens of tear gas canisters into the home, breaking windows and coating everything with a residue. The damage, reports Seattle Times, comes out to $973,858.75:

Eight family members had been living in the house, but the damage was so great the home was no longer livable. It remains uninhabited.

In an agreement finalized last month, the city will pay Chrisceda Clemmons’ family $973,858.75, according to a settlement overview released by the Risk Management Division. About $250,000 of that amount is designated for restoration of the house. The rest is to compensate the family for a host of expenses and losses, including rental payments for transitional housing, lost wages and damage to personal property.

Attaching a value to all that property proved to be a challenge because so many of the items were unique, said Bruce Hori, the city’s director of risk management.

To evaluate Chrisceda Clemmons’ African art collection, the city needed to find a special appraiser, Hori said. Other specialty items included rare books and custom-made musical instruments, including an array of steel drums.

“They weren’t like you could run down to the Guitar Center and buy one,” Hori said. “So getting to a price was not as easy as it would seem.”

0 thoughts on “Times: City to pay nearly $1 million for wrecking home of Clemmons’ aunt during manhunt

  1. DID ANYONE INVOLVED IN THIS “NEGOTIATION” STOP TO THINK THAT YOU COULD TEAR DOWN THIS HOUSE AND REBUILD IT NEW AT LEAST FOUR TIMES?? has everyone gone totally wacko??

  2. If you read the above, most was for compensation other than restoration…I’m glad they are getting compensated. I hope the family feel it is fair. It was a huge trauma for them to go through.

    “About $250,000 of that amount is designated for restoration of the house. The rest is to compensate the family for a host of expenses and losses, including rental payments for transitional housing, lost wages and damage to personal property.”

  3. Much of this total has already been paid out in rental housing costs, wage loss, etc. The amount to renovate the house is only $250,000 which is not much for a house that size. It helps to read beyond the first line. There are many errors in the article but the Times objective is to sell papers and unfortunately the Clemmons name will sell….something Ceda has to live with for however long it takes for the public memory to forget this name. For those of us in the neighborhood, it is high time for this to be settled and the house to be repaired and the family to move back where they belong. The rental house where they are currently living is on the market; if it sells, it means another move and upheaval for the kids. It took far too long for this to be settled.

  4. Or that if she’d called the police the first time Maurice called her that none of this would have happened? What financial responsibility for the damage does Cres Clemmons hold for waiting 2 hours to call the police? Or for eventually driving to the precinct rather than calling from a cell, a pay phone or the house phone? But then calling SPD quickly only would have made sense if she was trying to keep the rest of us safe, rather than protecting Maurice right up until the moment he might be a threat to HER.

    I’d love to see the family’s tax returns to justify exactly how much was supposedly lost in wages. I’d also LOVE to be able to live in a house as nice as their rental must have been, considering the exorbitant rent my tax dollars are paying out for the family to live in a rental palace.

  5. So this couple was supposedly making enough in yearly wages, plus had enough personal belongings in that immensely run down old house, to total 500-600K? I live in a much nicer house, and my belongings + my wages for 2 years wouldn’t come near half that amount even if you threw in my car. Give me a break.

  6. “Attaching a value to all that property proved to be a challenge because so many of the items were unique, said Bruce Hori, the city’s director of risk management.

    To evaluate Chrisceda Clemmons’ African art collection, the city needed to find a special appraiser, Hori said. Other specialty items included rare books and custom-made musical instruments, including an array of steel drums.”

  7. If you read the story, you find that 8 people were living in the home and only 3 were children so there were more lost wages than 2 adults. The main error in this story is that it attributes all the money to Ceda which is not true. Others living there were reimbursed for their losses. The house is not even in Ceda’s name so she is not receiving the restoration money but it does make a better story doesn’t it? Flash the name Clemmons across the page and then mention a near million…no mention of the other damaged structures on the property. I would not go through all that for 2 million. I must say that there are mean spirited folks here as well as in Wisconsin. And if I got a call from a crazed family member saying he was coming to my house, you had better believe I would get my kids out of there pronto. and not to stop to use the phone. So easy to judge when you’re not part of it.

  8. Sounds like consorting with known criminals gets you caught in a dragnet. Serves them right. Call it an occupational hazard to aiding and abetting. Next time they should make sure they don’t let killers into their house.

    And if you’ve got $80 bazillion dollars of irreplaceable art, well, then you should be able to buy insurance for $80 bazillion dollars worth of art, and if you can do that, you’re probably not the kind that consorts with cop-killers anyway.

    And how does your house being unusable prevent you from working? Everyone was fired because they didn’t keep the same address? Yeah, right, lost wages… So are the good Clemmons folks going to help out the dead cop’s families with ‘lost wages’? Sheesh.

  9. I’m sure you’re just venting. But, you are demonstrating how little you know about this situation and projecting a whole lot. I am responding to the points you brought up.

    *Chrisceda is related to the late Maurice Clemmons and in no way was she aiding or abetting anything he did. If you think anything different you are entirely confused about the situation and will not be convinced by logic or facts.

    *Insurance companies do not give payments for damage when they think another insured party is responsible.

    *The instruments that were ruined prevented them from working because they are professional musicians.

    *Life insurance, public generosity, pension plans, etc. is what is helping the families of the slain officers with, as you do delicately put it “lost wages”. And what makes you so sure that Chrisceda hasn’t done anything for those families?

  10. in this case more facts that are presented the better informed citizens can be. Thank you JB for pointing out a lot of stuff that i didnt know (for example that Ms. Chrisceda and her family are professional musicians) I agree with another post, the name Clemmons sells. And you are correct when all is said and done, one million is a bit misleading. Not ever having had to pursue an insurance claim (other then a broken car window) much less a home, i was unaware of some of the things you mentioned about insurance companies. Hopefully, now, the healing can begin. For everyone. Good luck to you Ms. Clemmons and your family members. You all are in my prayers, as this could have happened to anyone. Sometimes it hard to do hard right over easy wrong, and you did it. God Bless.