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Sentences were handed down Friday to two defendants charged in arson attacks against the East Precinct and an assault of a police officer with a baseball bat caught on video that became infamous on social media during the anti police protests that followed CHOP’s clearance from Capitol Hill in 2020.
Jacob Greenburg was sentenced Friday to five years in prison. CHS reported here in December on the plea deal reached in which Greenburg’s legal team agreed to the lengthy sentence in exchange for reduced charges against the defendant. Greenburg, a stepson of a former Washington state representative and 19 at the time of the incident, was charged with the September 2020 baseball bat assault on Officer Jose Jimenez along with charges of arson over Molotov cocktail attacks at the East Precinct.
Danielle McMillan, the then 29-year-old whose communications with Greenburg were used by police and prosecutors to tie the two together in investigating and prosecuting the crimes, now faces 12 months of community service in a plea deal on reduced charges of reckless burning. “This sentence in done based on the understanding that Ms. McMillan will continue to cooperate with an ongoing related federal case and investigation,” the King County Prosecutor’s office said Friday in a statement on the cases.
The September 2020 bat attack on Jimenez came as police moved in on a large crowd of protesters demonstrating against injustice in the Breonna Taylor case.
Police were able to link the two to the baseball bat attack that left the officer stunned but not seriously injured and a series of Molotov cocktail attacks and arsons around the East Precinct.
Police say the found that Greenburg and McMillan, though they dressed in the style of the black bloc protesters, each had easy to identify markings, gear, and clothing elements that made it possible for detectives to spot them and pick them out of the crowd after reviewing photographs and video from weeks of protests.
A September 26th, 2020 demonstration on E Pine brought Greenburg into police custody and started the process that would eventually ensnare McMillan. Police moved in to bust up the crowd that night as fires were started in the street after a week of protests. Police and prosecutors says one person seen squirting what appears to be lighter fluid onto the flames and taking pictures of the scene with a Nikon camera was Greenburg.
According to the court documents, officers continued to monitor Greenburg’s location during the unrest that night after seeing his actions at the scene of the fire. As officers eventually moved in to arrest him, police say Greenburg made a run for it but was chased down and taken into custody.
Detectives were able to access Greenburg’s phone and said they found a trove of chat threads that linked McMillan and Greenburg to discussions about the construction of the simple fire bombs and the specific attacks near the East Precinct.
Friday’s sentencing marks the latest milestone in the ongoing investigations and legal processes stemming from CHOP and the 2020 Black Lives Matter and anti-police protests. While the criminal cases are mostly winding down, some of the largest decisions around civil cases like this lawsuit brought by a group of Capitol Hill real estate and small business owners against the City of Seattle over CHOP have yet to be decided. Other issues like the Proud Boys “improper ruse” investigation of SPD have also yet to be remedied. Meanwhile, the “ongoing related federal case and investigation” referenced by the county prosecutor could also mean there are further criminal legal ramifications from the 2020 protests to come.
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Black bloc was a bunch of spoiled white kids from the suburbs that stained the Black Lives Matter movement with their live action role-play covid lockdown tantrum. Pathetic.
Spot on.
Kid got off easy. Attempted murder for sure. What an idiot.
It’s good to see that at least some of these punks are being held accountable.
If only police could be held accountable.
Right. Seems like everyone conveniently forgot about peaceful protestors being tear gassed and shot with rubber bullets and projectiles.
You mean “mostly peaceful protestors” lol
I was actually there, it was peaceful up until pepper spray and tear gas, police were the clear aggressors.
So was I. I also was tear-gased. The police escalated when they should have de-escalated. It is also true that the situation got way out of control and Black Bloc protesters were there for battle and destruction, not out of a support for social justice.
It wasn’t peaceful at all. Rocks, bottles, frozen cans, bags of feces all rained down on the police every night and the protesters themselves livestreamed it. Hate the police all you want but tell the truth.
“anti police protests”?
It was a Black Lived Matter protest for the first week before it devolved into anti-police/anti-capitalism riots and a bunch of anarchists streaming in from across the country to smash things and live in the park.
My favorite part is how though they dressed in the style of black block protesters they still had easily identifiable marks on their gear and clothing that made it easy for police to identify them.