Text messages reveal both former Chief Carmen Best and Mayor Jenny Durkan and her office may have been more involved in the decision to abandon Capitol Hill’s East Precinct than either has previously disclosed, according to new reporting from the South Seattle Emerald.

The revelations could further jeopardize the city’s chances of defending itself in an ongoing federal lawsuit accusing City Hall of “deliberate indifference” in allowing the CHOP occupied protest area to form and cutting off the area from city services for weeks in the summer of 2020 amid concerns about dangerous conditions around the camp and protest.

The new revelations surrounding text messages between the former police chief and her assistant chief in the days leading up to the June 2020 formation of the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone were reported by the Emerald’s Carolyn Bick last week:

According to texts between Best and Assistant Police Chief Lesley Cordner, it appears that Best was in contact with former Mayor Jenny Durkan about the Seattle Police Department (SPD) removing items from the East Precinct and that she was aware, on the morning of June 8, 2020, of a plan to remove firearms, ammunition, and evidence from the building by 5 p.m. that day.

As the Emerald reported, the text messages contradict Best’s statements to the media and to the Office of Police Accountability during its investigation of the decision to empty the building. The chief has described the decision to leave the building as a tactical action by Best’s on the ground commanders that stemmed from Durkan administration efforts to reach out to Black Lives Matter demonstrators. “We took down the barricades because we really wanted to establish trust,” Best told media that June.

The OPA in October cleared Best and other SPD brass in the summer 2020 decision to empty the East Precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine, saying Best and her assistant chief “made the best decisions they could under high-stress, unprecedented circumstances.”

The OPA investigation focused solely on the decision to clear the building and did not address the ongoing repercussions reported by CHS . 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.

Weeks later, Best stepped down from her post in the wake of CHOP.

Best or city officials have not responded to the new reporting on the text messages.

Former Mayor Durkan’s missing text messages, meanwhile, continue to figure prominently in the ongoing federal case led by Capitol Hill-based developer Hunters Capital and a group of real estate and business plaintiffs seeking to be determined financial damages for a group of businesses in the Pike/Pine and 12th Ave areas around the camp and protest zone. Last month, CHS reported on the most recent rulings in the case including a judge’s decision to deny class action certification that could have opened the lawsuit up to hundreds of nearby residents and businesses.

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