Tag Archives: protests

One arrest in Cal Anderson protest against recent police killings

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For a time during 2020’s Black Lives Matter demonstrations and into the pandemic, there were near nightly arrests during anti-police protests across Capitol Hill. A Cal Anderson protest against police violence Saturday night echoed back to those past arrests as Seattle Police took one person into custody during a march against recent police killings.

During Saturday night’s protest, police took a 29-year-old man into custody “for malicious mischief/property damage after he was seen tagging/graffiti-ing a building in the 1500 block of 13th Ave,” a SPD spokesperson said. The man was released from the East Precinct and the case was forwarded to the Seattle City Attorney’s Office for possible charges. Continue reading →

‘At what point should people have known?’ — Larger questions about Seattle Police disinformation and ‘chain of command’ during protest response overshadow Proud Boy radio ruse — UPDATE

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

A Seattle City Council committee meeting Tuesday morning included calls for training and policy changes but also opened the door to a wider ranging probe connecting the so-called “improper ruse” of the Proud Boys disinformation effort to the decision to abandon the East Precinct and other operations by the Seattle Police Department during the summer of 2020 in which investigators have identified and sometimes recommended discipline for lower ranking commanders and officers for their parts in the inappropriate and often dangerous actions while citing a lack of documentation and oversight at the department’s highest levels including then Chief Carmen Best and current interim Chief Adrian Diaz.

“People in the high command didn’t know about things,” Councilmember Andrew Lewis said during his questions to Andrew Myerberg, director of the city’s Office of Police Accountability. “At what point should people have known?”

Tuesday’s meeting of the council’s Public Safety and Human Services Committee was the first public hearing following last week’s delayed release of the OPA report on findings that former Assistant Chief Bryan Grenon, as head of the department’s Special Operations Center convened to manage the city’s response to the 2020 protest, signed off on a dangerous disinformation ploy targeting demonstrators as the CHOP protest zone formed on Capitol Hill.

Committee chair Lisa Herbold said her focus was on policies and the use of “ruses” that she said are legal under state law but “need additional oversight and must be documented.”

But the OPA director said, while he shared Herbold’s concerns about policy, he agreed with Lewis that the larger concern about the Proud Boy radio ruse in which officers were approved to broadcast false reports of an armed right wing group headed for Capitol Hill as the protest camp formed wasn’t about the use of a tactic that can be appropriate “in the context of a criminal investigation” but about Seattle Police officers deploying an intentional disinformation campaign. Continue reading →

Council committee to hear briefing on Seattle Police’s ‘improper ruse’ at CHOP

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Tuesday, the Public Safety and Human Services Committee of the Seattle City Council will be briefed by Andrew Myerberg, director of the city’s Office of Police Accountability, and Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell on the findings released last week that police leadership signed off on a dangerous disinformation ploy targeting demonstrators as the CHOP protest zone formed in the summer of 2020.

The morning session will also include the first opportunity for public comment on the scandal in front of the council. Continue reading →

‘Improper ruse’ — Investigation finds Seattle Police officers faked reports about armed Proud Boys headed to CHOP — UPDATE: Harrell statement

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The scene outside the East Precinct on June 8th, 2020

The hours after Seattle Police abandoned the East Precinct and the CHOP occupied protest zone was formed on June 8th, 2020 were chaotic — and dangerous.

In the midst of that chaos, SPD leadership including an assistant chief signed off on a deliberate hoax that capitalized on the widespread availability of services broadcasting police radio transmissions to spread rumors of a group of 20 to 30 armed right wing extremists roaming the streets of city and headed to Capitol Hill for a fight.

These findings of the department’s Office of Police Accountability after its year-long investigation into the “inappropriate ruse” comes likely too late to bring punishment to those directly involved. In its findings, the investigation lays the blame for the misinformation disinformation effort with two supervisors including the assistant chief. Both supervisors have since left the department, according to the report.

UPDATE: A researcher working to study disinformation points out that the OPA’s use of the word “misinformation” is incorrect. Misinformation implies the spreading of incorrect reports and observations regardless of intent. Disniformation, on the other hand, implies deliberate acts to mislead as is the case in the findings from this investigation. We have updated our report throughout.

UPDATE x2: Mayor Bruce Harrell has issued a statement on the report saying he plans to meet with Chief Diaz and push for new legislation “to ensure this does not happen again.”

Continue reading →

From an infamous night of protest on Capitol Hill, suspension in investigation of cop who biked over protester’s head, plea deal in case of black bloc demonstrator accused of baseball bat assault

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A flashpoint moment captured on video in one of the most infamous nights of battle between Seattle Police and protesters during 2020’s wave of Black Lives Matter and anti-police demonstrations in the city resulted in a seven-day suspension without pay, according to the results of an Office of Accountability report (PDF) finally released last week.

Meanwhile, a court case against one of the combatants in that night’s police and black bloc clashes has also reached its conclusion.

In findings announced last week, Seattle Police’s Eric Walter was handed the weeklong suspension for his use of “prohibited force” in a September 23rd incident in which investigators found the officer intentionally ran over the head of a downed protester with his patrol bike as his SPD contingent rode into a clash with demonstrators and black bloc protesters on E Pine during a night of conflict over the police killing of Breonna Taylor:

CHS reported on the chaotic night that followed the summer months of demonstrations including the formation and removal of the CHOP occupied protest. Seattle Police and activists reported at least 13 were arrested and several people were injured including officers and demonstrators, some posting pictures online of their injuries from the hard foam rounds fired by police to disperse crowds late in the night. Continue reading →

Small protests on Capitol Hill mark Rittenhouse acquittal in Seattle

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A group of people dressed in black bloc marched around Cal Anderson Friday night while a small protest gathered Sunday night at Capitol Hill’s Seattle Central to demonstrate after last week’s acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse on all counts in the 2020 Kenosha shootings.

Friday night, a group of a few dozen was reported marching on Broadway and through Pike/Pine. Police reported the scene as “a group size of about 75 people all dressed in black attire with helmets, shields, face coverings and protective eyewear.” SPD says it formed a “task force” with officers from other precincts coming to the area due to the size of the group “and small number of officers.” No significant property damage was reported and SPD said it made no arrests. Continue reading →

‘The Guardian of Seattle,’ Dan Gregory has hopes for Carnegie Medal — Fernandez trial set for 2022

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Dan Gregory

Dan Gregory, the unarmed man shot as he tried to disarm the brother of an East Precinct officer who drove into a Black Lives Matter demonstration crowd at 11th and Pine in the summer of 2020 protests on Capitol Hill, said Wednesday he is being nominated for the Carnegie Medal, an award presented for acts of extraordinary heroism.

Gregory made the announcement Wednesday morning on the air with John Richards on KEXP where Gregory now works as a security guard.

The court case of the shooter in the incident, meanwhile, is now scheduled to begin trial early in the new year. Continue reading →

New lawsuit filed over teen’s shooting death at CHOP

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A new lawsuit from the family of a teen shot and killed on the edges of the CHOP occupied protest is moving forward after a federal judge dismissed a civil rights case blaming the city over the young man’s death. Continue reading →

Judge dismisses federal CHOP lawsuit over teen gunned down at 10th and Pine

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The federal lawsuit brought on behalf of Lorenzo Anderson’s mother blaming the City of Seattle for “failures to act” during the CHOP occupied protest has been dismissed.

Lawyers for Donnitta Sinclair brought the suit last year over the August 2020 shooting death of the 19-year-old who was killed on the edges of the protest zone at 10th and Pine just days after Seattle Police abandoned the East Precinct and refused to respond to many 911 calls in the area of the protest encampment.

Marcel Long was charged in the murder as prosecutors say Long gunned down Anderson on the Capitol Hill street in a beef between the teens. In the time since the lawsuit was filed, a U.S. Marshals-led task force tracked down Long and took him into custody. Continue reading →

City Council approves move of parking enforcement officers to SDOT, new rules for crowd control weapons for SPD

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The Seattle City Council tied bows Monday on the legislative process for changes to Seattle Police that will remove parking enforcement from the department and create a new framework for what crowd control weapons the force can use.

Monday’s full council votes included approval of the plan to move the around 100 parking enforcement employees in the city from SPD command to the Seattle Department of Transportation. The vote finalizes debate of whether the enforcement officers should be part of SDOT or a new Community Safety and Communications Center. In May, the council approved a plan to move around 140 emergency dispatch employees to the new center.

The city’s 2021 budget brought a cut of about a fifth of Seattle’s more than $400 million annual outlay in police spending along with changes to reduce the size and power of the department by moving 911 and traffic enforcement operations outside of the Seattle Police Department and spending more money on social, community, and BIPOC services and programs. Continue reading →