The process of investigating the events of 2020, its months of unrest, and the formation of the CHOP protest zone on Capitol Hill moved forward Monday with another report finding no violations — and no blame — for Seattle Police decisions that contributed to the crisis.

Monday, the department’s Office of Police Accountability released its report exonerating former Chief Carmen Best and an assistant chief in the summer 2020 decision to clear out the East Precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine.

“Following the evacuation, OPA received complaints alleging the Chief failed to take responsibility for her command by ordering—or allowing through her designee—the evacuation of SPD personnel from the East Precinct,” a press release from the OPA on the findings reads. “That the Chief delegated to her Assistant Chief, who opted to de-escalate by withdrawing personnel to a safer location, was not a violation of law or SPD policy.”

In the statement, OPA director Andrew Myerberg said complaints “further alleged the evacuation led to the establishment of CHOP/CHAZ and a subsequent period of lawlessness in the area” but that his investigation “found no consensus within SPD command or the Mayor’s Office that opening the streets around the East Precinct—and the ensuing evacuation of personnel—would result in the establishment of CHOP/CHAZ.”

Myerberg, instead, said Chief Best and her assistant chief “made the best decisions they could under high-stress, unprecedented circumstances.”

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CHS reported here on KUOW’s investigation detailing the ultimate decision on clearing the building being made by Assistant Chief Tom Mahaffey over his worries about a possible arson attack.

The OPA investigation appears to have focused solely on the decision to clear the building but does not address the ongoing repercussions reported by CHS in June as we looked back on the one-year anniversary of CHOP. For weeks after the withdrawal, SPD refused to respond to most incidents near the protest zone. Neighbors and businesses reported that SPD officers were not responding to 911 calls around the protest zone as the area took on a party-like atmosphere with speeches, rallies, music, and dancing as demands begin to crystalize around defunding SPD.

With residents and businesses near CHOP struggling with the day to day living and doing business in the midst of the protest zone, the inconveniences of the camp, the noise, and the difficulties with SPD’s reluctance to respond inside the zone would soon be overshadowed. Less than two weeks after the precinct was emptied, 19-year-old Lorenzo Anderson was shot and killed at 10th and Pine.

Police moved back into the building following the July 1, 2020 raid on CHOP and clearance of the camps and began, once more, to patrol the area and respond to 911 calls. The more than 100-year-old building once home to the Willys-Overland Motors automobile company has stood through decades of change on the Hill thanks in part to its large x-shaped seismic braces. In recent weeks, SPD finally removed the large security fence that has blocked off the precinct from the surrounding streets.

Chief Best stepped down from her post in the wake of CHOP and now works as a law enforcement analyst for MSNBC.

The OPA report sheds new light on some of the key moments in the process that led to the East Precinct’s abandonment. The testimony recorded from Witness Officer #1 is particularly interesting for its detailing of options SPD considered for addressing the situation at the East Precinct and the department’s expectations the facility would be destroyed:

The same witness describes what it was like inside the precinct when the order to clear the facility was issued:

In the testimony, the witness also describes just how little planning went into what would come next.

“Following the evacuation, WO#1 turned his attention to the need ‘to have a functioning police precinct or at least the ability to police the [confines of the] East Precinct,'” the report reads. “WO#1 described handling the logistical issues attendant to continuing police operations in the confines of the East Precinct without access to the East Precinct, such as securing parking for officers, viable response options, ensuring officers knew where to report, and making sure officers knew the plan for policing the confines of the East Precinct out of the West Precinct building.”

“So that was the first part, you know, to take care of the assistance of the [confines of the] East Precinct and provide them some sort of semblance of police services,” the witness told the investigation.

While the findings of the OPA investigation do not implicate the former chief and her assistant, fallout from the evacuation is still being felt at CIty Hall with a lawsuit brought by property owners and businesses near CHOP over the city’s failure to prevent the protest zone and its impact on the neighborhood.

The full OPA report on the findings is below.

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