I never met Otto, but I heard a lot about him after he passed away.

Apparently Otto was a simple man, or more precisely a mentally retarded man who never knew he wasnt ordinary.

Im told he was extremely likable and happy, and led a basic life filled with routine.

Otto was fortunate enough to fall into one of those government-generated programs designed to find useful, semi-productive work where he could go to a job on a daily basis, perform some easily grasped tasks, and receive a small amount of pay for his efforts.

Apparently he was a little more advanced than some Ive met and written about who do mundane assembly line work, either assembling or disassembling parts, because Otto was employed as a janitor.

And he had his own bank account, a big responsibility and honor for anyone whos mentally challenged.

Hed found his niche and quietly was leading a blissful life until maybe four years ago when disaster struck.

One night, according to well-documented public reports, Otto was pulling money out of his ATM machine in Spokane when two young girls determined he looked suspicious and decided their civic duty was to report Ottos strange behavior to city police.

By the time police arrived, Otto had retrieved his own money from the ATM and was across the street buying a candy bar and soda in a convenience store.

Police, plural, rushed in and demanded, in a less-than-friendly manner, that Otto quit what he was doing.

Ive never read the first report Spokane police officers drafted regarding that incident nor seen footage retrieved from the convenience stores surveillance camera that totally refuted police claims of what did happen.

But I do know Otto was tasered on the spot and died from that shock three days later.

A close friend of mine takes the side of the police, claiming their lives are at risk daily and they cant be held accountable for split-second decisions in such tenuous situations.

I disagree.

I disagree because Ive seen Spokane policemen in action first-hand.

A night taxi driver for 16 months in Spokane, the last thing I ever wanted to do was call that citys police force to come to my rescue. Theyd justifiably killed a young man 150 feet from my front door months earlier that many I talked to didnt think needed to be shot.

However, on one occasion I did trigger the silent alarm in my taxi only heard in the dispatchers office and police station and law enforcement came post-haste. It was late at night with no one around and a very large, angry man had me by the throat and was threatening to beat me to a pulp.

When those officers arrived, they had the large, angry man subdued and handcuffed in three seconds max.

Dont you think a flock of such highly trained police officers could have subdued Otto he only armed with a candy bar and a soda without having to resort to a lethal taser attack?

Then, of course, there was the incident where a well-loved pastor in Spokane, or maybe Spokane Valley owned, of all things, a used car lot and was tired of thieves coming in nights and stealing his hub caps, license plates, tires, and distributors.

Not the typical pastor, he carried a gun to his used car lot one night and was justifiably shot to death by a plainclothes policeman he didnt know was there.

Im convinced our forefathers had it straight in regards to the rights of private citizens to bear arms.

Rocky Wilson, a member of the Chieftains news staff, formerly lived in Spokane.