The inquest into the death of JT Williams, a regular among the homeless men and women who live and spend time on Capitol Hill, is underway this week as a jury will help determine if charges should be brought against Ian Birk, the Seattle police officer who shot and killed Williams on August 30th at the corner of Boren and Howell. Here is a round-up of coverage from the first day of the inquest. You can also follow the Seattle PI’s Casey McNerthney for updates via Twitter.
- The Seattle Times
An inquest jury on Monday was shown newly disclosed video of Seattle police Officer Ian Birk pointing his semi-automatic pistol at First Nations woodcarver John T. Williams only moments after Birk had fired four fatal shots that left Williams sprawled on the ground.
The video was captured by the dashboard camera of the first patrol car to respond to the Aug. 30 shooting, jurors were told during the first day of the fact-finding hearing into Williams’ death. Birk is shown standing about nine feet from the prone man as additional officers respond to the scene, form a line and move toward Williams.
- The Seattle PI
… lead Seattle police homicide detective Jeffrey Mudd told jurors Williams’ knife was found in a closed position, as was another knife that fell from Williams jacket pocket when Mudd was looking for his identification.
Mudd also said the locking position on the knife — a cheap foreign counterfeit of a model made in London — “didn’t seem to be working properly.” Seattle police investigators e-mailed the London company for details about the specific knife, but were told the knife was a knock-off.
- The Stranger:
Jurors were also shown a second dashboard video—which has not been made public—taken from the first-responding patrol car on scene. Unlike Birk’s footage, this video, which takes place less than two minutes after the shooting, captures Williams in its sightline. It shows Williams lying prone on the sidewalk with Birk standing a few feet away, still training his weapon on Williams. It then shows no fewer than nine officers approaching Williams in two tight lines and flipping his body over. It shows a quick pat down and then the dispersal of most of the officers.
Today we learned that after his death, officers found a second knife concealed in Williams’ pocket.
These people don’t investigate themselves. From what I’ve learned, and I may be inaccurate in saying this, the carving knife was a LEGAL 3″ blade and there were bullet holes in Mr. Williams side. He was partially deaf in at least one ear. Officer Birk had his gun drawn as he moved towards Mr. Williams – doesn’t seem a last resort to do that. I’m extremely pessimistic about the outcome.