Video: Board Delays Decision On Woodard Disability

"We've made no determination whether it is job-related or not," said Mayor Bill Baarsma, a member of the city's Police Pension Disability Board, after its meeting Tuesday. "There won't be a final determination on the nature of the disability until we meet next."

Woodard, 49 -- who did not attend the board meeting -- applied for disability leave because of stress after she was placed on administrative leave May 1 amid questions over her involvement in the Brame case.

City officials have not disclosed the nature of Woodard's disability claim. A decision must be made by Dec. 20 -- six months after she filed her application May 20.

She has received more than $57,000 since going on paid administrative leave last spring.

A 25-year police department veteran, Woodard was named acting chief April 26 by then-City Manager Ray Corpuz Jr. after Police Chief David Brame fatally shot his wife, Crystal, and himself.

But Woodard served as acting chief only five days before Corpuz placed her on paid leave.

Her actions are one element of a Washington State Patrol investigation into possible criminal misconduct during Brame's tenure. Questions center on Woodard's contacts with Brame, his wife and her family.

Woodard has denied any wrongdoing and her attorney has said she did not commit any crime.

The pension board may grant a claim if members decide the disability is related to an officer's duty. The claim can be rejected if members decide that "dissipation or abuse" created conditions that prevent her from performing her duties.

The law does not define "dissipation or abuse" but allows the disability board to decide whether it has occurred.

Elizabeth Pauli, chief assistant city attorney, said the board has asked a doctor to examine Woodard and learn more about her case, in order to verify her disability claim. The board also may act on its own knowledge, Pauli said.

The board could grant Woodard's disability claim, and decide to automatically award her disability retirement, which would pave the way for disability retirement benefits.

Those benefits would amount to 50 percent of her $131,081 annual salary tax-free. The board also has the option to deny retirement benefits.

If she disagrees with the board's decision, she can appeal to the state Department of Retirement Systems.

Another key figure in the Brame case, former city manager Corpuz, will receive about $101,392 in annual retirement benefits for the rest of his life under an agreement approved by the city's retirement board. Corpuz, who had promoted Brame to chief, was fired by the City Council in the wake of the shootings.

The News Tribune of Tacoma reported Tuesday that almost a month before the April 26 shootings, Woodard knew David Brame had threatened Crystal Brame's life.

She also knew about the chief's relationship with a female officer, and his unsuccessful efforts to lure the officer and Crystal Brame into group sex, according to public records and information obtained by the newspaper.

Woodard's knowledge emerges in her handwritten notes of a conversation she had with Crystal Brame, dated March 31. Investigators found copies of the notes in David Brame's apartment after the shootings.

The News Tribune said the notes mention Crystal Brame's complaints about death threats. They also include references to David Brame's relationship with the female officer and group sex.

After the shootings, Woodard gradually disclosed her knowledge to city officials.

On April 29, Woodard told Corpuz, City Attorney Robin Jenkinson and Pauli of the relationship between David Brame and the female officer.

Jenkinson and Pauli described Woodard's statements during interviews in mid-May with investigators from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.

Woodard told the officials she learned about the relationship from Brame himself, and thought it was consensual. But after the shootings, Woodard spoke with the female officer, and learned the relationship was not consensual.

The city attorneys told Woodard to file a report immediately with the city's Human Resources Department. That report became part of a sexual harassment complaint, filed on the officer's behalf.

The complaint alleged Brame offered a promotion in exchange for the officer's participation in group sex.

On May 1, Woodard brought a copy of her March 31 notes to Jenkinson and Pauli. After reading them and learning that Woodard knew of death threats and possible sexual harassment by Brame, the attorneys advised Woodard to speak to Corpuz again, Pauli said.

Corpuz placed Woodard on paid administrative leave the same day, citing "information accumulated and assessed" since the shootings.