Rioters and barely peaceful protesters attacked a police station and wounded 59 officers in Seattle on Saturday, the very weekend a new law took effect that severely curtails the non-lethal measures police may use to quell riots.
Worse still, the city police chief warned the City Council and city residents and business owners to expect the mayhem given the effect the anti-cop ordinance passed in June would have.
Cops collared almost four dozen of the unhinged radicals, who bombed a police station and tossed rocks and explosives at cops, one of whom landed in the hospital.
In addition to declaring war on cops, the ordinance also promised to reward rioters who sue the city.
Saturday Madness
Two posts to the Seattle Police Department blotter describe the mayhem in detail.
Around 4 p.m., about a dozen rioters who had gathered near the city’s Cal Anderson Park and Central College set fire to portable trailers and other equipment at a nearby construction site, and also smashed car windows in the areas, cops reported.
Then the revolutionary mob began breaking windows on 12th Avenue and marched to the department’s East Precinct:
There, several people emerged from the group and began spray painting and attempting to disable security cameras and a fence perimeter around the precinct.
At least one person breached the precinct’s fence line. Moments later, a device exploded leaving an 8-inch hole in the side of the precinct.
After the unprovoked attack on the police building, cops declared a riot and ordered the crowd to disperse, the blotter reported.
Instead, the thugs threw bottles and balloons filled with liquid and shot mortar fireworks and tossed explosives at officers, who in turn used pepper spray, blast balls, and 40mm sponge rounds.
The wanton attack on police with bricks, rocks, mortars and other explosives continued for hours.
By 10 p.m., police had arrested 47 of the unhinged criminals.
By the time the battle for Seattle had ended, the rioters injured 59 cops. “Injuries ranged from abrasions and bruising to burns and a torn meniscus,” the SPD blotter reported.
Letter to City Council
The City Council likely invited the attack on police when they passed the anti-cop ordinance that took effect this weekend on June 15.
Taking the side of protesters, the council passed an ordinance that forbids the city to purchase, own, or rent crowd-control weapons.
The law also forbids cops from using pepper spray if it is “used in a demonstration, rally, or other First Amendment-protected event” or “when used to subdue an individual in the process of committing a criminal act or presenting an imminent danger to others, it lands on anyone other than that individual.”
Damages payable to rioters injured if the cops violate the new law is $10,000, plus attorney and court fees, and the settlement does not preclude the plaintiff from collecting a larger settlement.
Two days before the riots, Chief of Police Carmen Best sent the council a letter to show she did “due diligence of informing Council of the foreseeable impact of this ordinance on upcoming events.”
It is a fact that there are groups and individuals who are intent on destruction in our City. Yes, we also have seen weeks of peaceful demonstrations, but two recent events (Sunday, July 19th and Wednesday, July 22nd) have included wide-scale property destruction and attacks on officers, injuring more than a dozen, some significantly.
Best warned that Saturday’s riot was planned and that the city should assume the arson, looting, and vandalism would continue.
But because of the new ordinance, “we cannot manage demonstrations as we have in the past. If I am not allowed to lawfully equip officers with the tools they have been trained to use to protect the community and themselves, it would be reckless to have them confront this level of violence under the current legal restrictions imposed by Council.”
Some have asked why officers are not arresting those engaging in criminal behavior, as officers do every day, and as they have in recent protests. If it is safe to do so, and even when it places their lives in danger, our officers always directly address criminal behavior. They do this, however, when they know they have the tools shown to allow the safe use of their policing powers. This Council ordinance denies them access to these tools that have been an essential part of their court-approved tactics….
As City Council’s legislation goes into effect, it will create even more dangerous circumstances for our officers to intervene using what they have left — riot shields and riot batons.
For these reasons, SPD will have an adjusted deployment in response to any demonstrations this weekend. The Council legislation gives officers no ability to safely intercede to preserve property in the midst of a large, violent crowd. Allowing this behavior deeply troubles me, but I am duty-bound to follow the Council legislation once it is in effect. If the Council is prepared to suggest a different response or interpretation of the legislation, I stand ready to receive it.
The next day, Best notified city residents and business owners that the ordinance “bans Seattle Police officers the use of less lethal tools, including pepper spray that is commonly used to disperse crowds that have turned violent. Simply put, the legislation gives officers NO ability to safely intercede to preserve property in the midst of a large, violent crowd.”
Photo: AP Images
R. Cort Kirkwood is a long-time contributor to The New American and a former newspaper editor.