Former Chief Best at a press conference at CHOP in the summer of 2020 (Image: CHS)

Former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best will not have to answer for dishonest and inaccurate statements made during CHOP that an investigation says inflamed the volatile situation around the 2020 protest camp on Capitol Hill that left two teenagers murdered and a string of litigation that continues three years later.

In a memo on the Seattle Office of Police Accountability’s findings in its investigation of the chief’s role in the public safety breakdown around the protests, Mayor Bruce Harrell joined in criticism of Best for making untrue statements to the public but said her refusal to participate in the OPA investigation prevented “a full assessment of the propriety of her actions during an important moment in Seattle history.”

“It is in the interests of the public and the City of Seattle to fully understand the events and the decision-making process that surrounded the protests and public demonstrations that occurred during the summer of 2020,” the Harrell memo reads. “The Executive believes that public employees who have had the honor to serve the City in such leadership positions should assist in establishing a review and record with the hopes of saving lives, reducing property destruction and loss, and addressing the erosion of public trust.”

In the investigation, the OPA dissected Best’s dishonesty during CHOP that positioned the camp as an area patrolled by armed protesters who were extorting local businesses, and demanding identification to enter and leave the area. The OPA also found Best provided “inaccurate and imprecise” statements after the shootings that left 19-year-old Lorenzo Anderson and 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. dead at CHOP.

Concerning the first victim, the investigator found that audio and video evidence supported the conclusion that officers were confronted with a “hostile crowd” upon entry into the CHOP zone, that the crowd followed officers as they retreated, and that members of the crowd engaged in acts that were “threatening.” However, the investigator determined that the assertion by Chief Best that the crowd “prevented SPD officers from safety accessing and providing medical treatment” to the victim was not “factually accurate” and was a “misleading account of what had occurred.”

Because of Best’s refusal to participate in the investigation, the effort found “insufficient evidence” to determine whether her statements were “knowingly and intentionally false,” according to the mayor’s memo.

Despite the rebuke by the mayor’s office, the former chief will not face discipline for her refusal to be interviewed. Best stepped down as chief in the wake of CHOP in 2020 over what she said were frustrations with efforts to lay off police officers and criticism of her response to how she handled the 2020 protests.

Meanwhile, Harrell’s memo indicated his office agreed Best acted properly in delegating decisions that led to the use of tear gas on protesters.

The memo falls into place in the mostly tepid long-term repercussions surrounding CHOP for the city and SPD leadership. In October 2021, the OPA cleared Best and her department leaders of wrongdoing in the decision to abandon the East Precinct during CHOP. Meanwhile, Best’s use of information and inaccurate statements fits into a pattern of disinformation and “improper ruses” used by SPD during the protests.

Earlier this year, CHS reported on a panel that included Seattle Police, and neighborhood businesses and organizations analyzing the 2020 protests in Seattle and the flawed police response to the demonstrations on Capitol Hill calling on city leaders to issue “a sincere, public apology.”

Meanwhile, there have been repercussions in the courts including a $3.6 million settlement with the city earlier this year on behalf of a slate of Capitol Hill property owners and businesses that sued over “deliberate indifference” from former Mayor Jenny Durkan, the Seattle Police Department and then-Chief Best. A new lawsuit from the same victorious legal firm has now been filed by neighborhood ice cream shop Molly Moon’s.

The full Harrell memo is below:

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