West Seattle, Washington
10 Tuesday
(Photo courtesy Rhonda Porter)
You may have seen police activity related to this in the past half-hour or so: A motorcycle rider has been taken to the hospital after being hit by a van by Jacobsen and Beach Drive. The van took off but police have since found it and the driver. We’re told the motorcyclist was conscious when he was taken to the hospital, and he was taken by ambulance, rather than aid car, which usually indicates not-life-threatening injuries. The road’s open. ADDED 7:44 PM: From “Proud Sister” in the comment section:
One other bit to the story that you didn’t know about is that my little brother Mr. Adam Layman, happened to drive down Jacobsen Rd. at the same time they were trying to get away.
When he saw what had just happened the neighbors motioned for him to follow the van that had fled the scene. He confronted the two guys at the top of Jacobsen. The passenger took off running and the driver said he would be back he just had to go and get some new tires!
So my little brother (a 25yr.old 4th gen. W.S.H.S. grad) followed the driver for about 10 min. and directed the cops to his whereabouts. He’s my hero and I’m so proud of him!!!
Meantime, Jeff sent a photo of the motorcycle, post-crash:
(Photo by Cliff DesPeaux/THE SEATTLE TIMES)
The emotional, inspiring, and at times humorous memorial service for Seattle Police Officer Tim Brenton has just ended at KeyArena. We have photos from inside courtesy of The Seattle Times, this time not because of our partnership with them but because SPD designated them as part of the “pool” to take and share photos with other news organizations. At top, the crowd as Mayor Greg Nickels spoke; he referred to Officer Brenton’s years here, saying, “I’m proud that he grew up in my neighborhood, West Seattle. He graduated from West Seattle High School. If my numbers are correct, we moved into his neighborhood when he was a junior.” Governor Gregoire paid tribute too. But the event was truly about the solemn and dangerous work of serving and protecting, as Officer Brenton – also a U.S. Army veteran – had done for most of his adult life. For SPD, Deputy Chief Clark Kimerer opened the memorial and introduced each speaker:
(Photo by Alan Berner/THE SEATTLE TIMES)
It was of course noted during the memorial that Officer Brenton’s killer has not yet been caught. Mayor Nickels called the murder “a despicable and evil act”; regarding the quest to catch the killer/s, Acting Chief John Diaz said, “in that mission we will not fail.” We expect a few more photos later this afternoon and will add them here; our story with photos and video from this morning’s procession of law-enforcement vehicles is here. 6:03 PM: A few more pool photos from this afternoon’s memorial:
(Photo by Alan Berner/THE SEATTLE TIMES)
(Photo by Alan Berner/THE SEATTLE TIMES)
(scroll down to see added info, video and links)
(Photo by Christopher Boffoli)
The Seattle Times (WSB partner) has a map with a timeline pointing to multimedia coverage of the procession that’s been under way for more than an hour; see it here. Meantime, we are adding photos taken for WSB by Christopher Boffoli along the procession route.
12:03 PM UPDATE: SPD has shared the program that is being distributed at this afternoon’s memorial. Mayor Nickels, Governor Gregoire and former Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske are among those who are speaking. You can see the program (2-page PDF) here. And here’s Christopher’s video of scenes from the procession:
More coverage from fellow independent community-collaborative news sites Capitol Hill Seattle, here, and Central District News (whose editor Scott is at KeyArena and updating what he’s seeing), here. Live video coverage is being streamed right now by KING5 – keep in mind the memorial itself begins at 1. ADDED 1:06 PM: The Times reports that St. James Cathedral is holding a prayer service at 6:30 tonight, all welcome, on behalf of Officer Brenton, the Fort Hood victims, and all those lost to violence.
To start the day, here’s a quick update to recap and collect the information about today’s events paying tribute to Officer Tim Brenton, six days after the 39-year-old former West Seattleite lost his life in the first deadly attack on Seattle Police in 15 years:
-More than 1,000 vehicles are expected in the memorial procession from the U-District to KeyArena, through Capitol Hill, with the expected time frame 9 am-noon. Here’s a map created by SDOT.
-Effects on bus routes have been catalogued by Seattle Transit Blog.
-The memorial ceremony/service is open to the public, scheduled to start at KeyArena at 1 pm, with doors opening at 11 am.
We will have coverage through the day, but these are the toplines for now. Also, thanks to Shelley for pointing out that SPDBlotter has published Officer Brenton’s biography, including the mention of his West Seattle High School years in the ’80s (as reported here and remembered here). The attack on Officer Brenton and in-training partner Officer Britt Sweeney, who survived, has not yet been solved, but significant new clues were made public yesterday – see them here. We’ll add links, images and more, as today’s events begin to unfold. One more note – remember the fund for Officer Brenton’s family; contribution information is here.
Tomorrow night, the Seattle Police Foundation hosts its annual awards banquet downtown, honoring SPD personnel from around the city who’ve made an extra-big difference in their communities over the past year. When the SPD Media Relations team downtown sent out the event announcement, we asked for an advance copy of the Southwest Precinct award-recipients list; the precinct subsequently granted our request for photos of the honorees. 
The West Seattle-based honorees are one sergeant, four detectives and two officers, starting with, at left, the department-wide Community Ambassador Award recipient, Community Police Team Officer Kevin McDaniel, and at right, the Southwest Precinct Officer of the Year, John Kiehn. The event program describes Officer McDaniel’s work in the High Point area: “He is assigned to High Point as a full time liaison to ensure that emerging problems are quickly identified and dealt with. … Perhaps his most important role has been working with those young residents who are involved in at-risk activities. He freely gives of his time, responding to issues that many would not see as ‘police’ problems, but with his unique abilities he often manages to resolve them before they do become criminal in nature.” (This WSB story includes one example.) Officer Kiehn (involved in this recent quick-arrest case) is a former U.S. Marine lauded as “very energetic and has volunteered for virtually all available training, becoming in a few short years a Field Training Officer, Crisis Intervention trained and qualified as a Long Rifle Officer. … There are those ‘great officers’ who always seem to find the bad guy by being in the right place at the right time. Officer Kiehn isn’t one of those officers. His success comes from good, old fashioned police work combined with a high degree of competency, especially around computers. A self admitted ‘computer geek,’ he quickly mastered the new Records Management System and has been a key resource to others who struggle with the system. He routinely uses Law Enforcement databases to assist in locating suspects and readily shares this knowledge with others. …” Then there’s the Impact Award, going to several teams around the city including the Southwest Precinct Detectives:
From left, meet Southwest Precinct Detectives Brian Ballew and Shayne St. John, Sergeant Jeff Durden, and Detectives Ed Garcia and Nick Bauer. As prolific as property crime has been in our area, these guys have broken some big cases, and the info about their award explains:
The role of the Precinct Detectives is to provide follow up resources to the Precinct in terms of investigating property related crimes. The detectives that are assigned to the Southwest Precinct have taken this role to an entirely new level. In addition to developing an aggressive investigative stance they have, through their leadership and commitment, brought a renewed sense of team to the Precinct. They regularly attend roll calls in order to share information with fellow officers about crime patterns and potential suspects. This has created momentum and valuable information to all three patrol watches, Community Police and Anti-Crime Teams to achieve precinct goals, but more importantly, to make neighborhoods safe from predatory criminals. On more than one occasion the Detectives have self-deployed into the field in uniform because they felt their fellow officers needed additional staffing due to training and/or sick leave absences. On another occasion they responded to the scene of a major fire and assisted in directing traffic. Both their Captain and Lieutenant have noted the extraordinary impact this has had on all aspects of the Precinct.
The Seattle Police Foundation, by the way, is not part of the police department; it’s an independent, nonprofit foundation (as described here).
This morning we conclude our city-candidate closeups; we took a look at them all before the primary election, and with voting under way now for next Tuesday’s general election, we’re checking back in with the finalists in five city races – mayor and council. We’ve already looked at mayor (Mike McGinn here, Joe Mallahan here), City Council Position 6 (Nick Licata here, Jessie Israel here) and City Council Position 8 (Mike O’Brien here and Robert Rosencrantz here); then it was Council Position 2 (Richard Conlin here and David Ginsberg here), and we’re concluding now with Position 4.
By Jack Mayne
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Sally Bagshaw has a long experience working in the public sector, including time as head of the civil division of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, but this is her first run for Seattle elected office.
“The very first thing I am going to do (if elected) is to keep my mouth shut and my ears open so that I know what is going on and I learn what is happening, that I know how the Council operates.”
She, like most candidates, feels the area’s transportation problems are legion.
One of the things we do here at WSB HQ besides produce and publish the site is answer e-mail, Facebook and Twitter messages, phone calls, etc., that may never result in actual articles. However, if we get more than a few notes about something, that’s usually a signal we’d better publish the answer here too. Today’s example: About a dozen notes have come in regarding what sounded like gunshots just before 1 am today in the general Junction vicinity. We were monitoring the scanner then, as usual, and did not hear anything suggesting that evidence of gunshots were found; the past few nights, in fact, in other areas of West Seattle including ours, what was reported as possible gunshots turned out to be fireworks. But just to be sure, we have checked with the Southwest Precinct, and so far two lieutenants there have both told us no evidence has been found to confirm any shots actually were fired (no cars or homes hit, no casings found, nothing in the “significant incidents” briefing from earlier shifts; and we can confirm from online 911 medic/fire logs that there were no aid calls). As always, questions/breaking-news tips welcome 24/7 – here are all the ways to reach us.
(WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli)
Seattle Police publish summaries of notable incidents to the SPDBlotter site (spdblotter.seattle.gov); we have the West Seattle Crime Watch page set up so that any tagged “Southwest Precinct” automatically feed there (here’s a direct link). Just spotted the summary of last night’s Admiral shots fired/victim beaten/suspect arrested incident (WSB as-it-happened coverage here) – here’s what police wrote:
On 8/28/09, at approximately 1130 p.m., the suspect and victim got into a fight in front of a Pub in the 2300 block of California Av SW. The suspect pulled out a hand gun, and pistol-whipped the victim, causing facial lacerations and possibly a broken nose. During the assault, a round apparently went off into the air, leading witnesses to believe that the victim had been shot. Seattle Fire responded and treated the victim on scene, he was transported to an area hospital with serious injuries.
The suspect ran off a short distance and tossed the hand gun away. A witness identified the suspect to the responding officers, and showed them the location of the gun. The suspect was arrested, and the gun was recovered.
The suspect was booked into King County Jail for Investigation of Assault.
No, that’s not a police officer lying down on the job – it’s special-assignment garb on display next while its neighbor handled the controls for the ever-popular Seattle Police robot that was shown off at this afternoon’s Picnic at the Precinct outside West Seattle’s Southwest Precinct. You could also get a firsthand look at equipment you hope won’t ever have to show up in your neighborhood:
More commonplace police vehicles, too:
And the police-transporting method that operates on four hooves instead of four (or two, or three) wheels:
Also on display during Picnic at the Precinct, many reminders that police work isn’t just about enforcing – it’s about prevention, too: Here’s Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow – your first stop for information on Block Watches and other prevention/deterrent tactics – talking with picnic-goers:
Other tables included Seattle Police Jobs and the Victim Support Team (follow that link to learn how to support VST as a volunteer):
Supporting the community is the work of many of the non-police-affiliated organizations represented this afternoon, including Southwest Youth and Family Services, whose director Steve Daschle staffed their booth:
SWYFS is this area’s lead agency for the city’s new Youth Violence Prevention Initiative; Daschle tells us they’re about to hire one more case manager for the program. SWYFS also is looking forward to its September 18th fundraising dinner/auction at Salty’s, Fia! Fia! Daschle explains that while his organization’s funding is only about 20 percent from the private sector, “unrestricted” money like that from fundraisers is vital – for example, they have an Iraqi Home Visit Program that is supposed to run 2 years for maximum impact, but it lost one year of funding, so money like this has to be used to keep it going. Tickets are available online. Also looking ahead to a fall fundraiser, the White Center Food Bank, whose Audrey Zemke was at Picnic at the Precinct:
She says invites for WCFB’s Fall Harvest Dinner and Auction will go out in about two weeks; it’ll be October 17th at South Seattle Community College‘s Brockey Center, with media personality Cindi Rinehart as auctioneer and North Highline Fire Chief Scott LaVielle as emcee. West Seattle Food Bank was represented today as well – its board president Pete Spalding chairs the Southwest Precinct Citizens Advisory Council – he stopped to pose with fellow food bank board member Shannon Braddock:
Spalding also had a bit of politics news: In October, the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council and Southwest District Council plan to co-sponsor a West Seattle-specific campaign forum – time/date/location TBA. Both groups have been visited by multiple candidates during the primary season that ends with Tuesday’s election, but the really big forums have happened in front of the 34th District Democrats, represented this afternoon as well:
Though it’s too late to register to vote in the primary, there’s plenty of time to get signed up for the general, and that’s what the 34th Dems’ reps were doing, as well as encouraging people who are registered to get Tuesday’s ballot turned in ASAP. And you won’t be surprised to hear some candidates showed up today, including City Council President Richard Conlin:
Conlin is seen there, talking with Morgan Community Association‘s Cindi Barker, who was promoting emergency-preparedness education today (check this website for info every West Seattleite can use). His race vs. West Seattleite David Ginsberg is actually not on Tuesday’s ballot since, if there’s only two, they advance directly to the general. Other candidates seen at the picnic during and before our visit included Mayor Nickels, mayoral challenger Joe Mallahan and city attorney Tom Carr. Many other groups and causes – more than 20 in all – joined in today’s picnic, including the Southwest Seattle Business and Professional Women:
They meet regularly in Burien; here’s their website. A few steps from their booth, kids got a chance to jump and bounce:
The bouncer was over next to free food and an entertainment stage with music and dance (we’ll add video later of the Northwest Tap Connection dancers) (*added* here’s that video:)
Picnic at the Precinct is an event held at all the Seattle Police Department‘s precincts each year, presented by the Seattle Police Foundation.
That’s the message tonight from West Seattle Crime Prevention Council president Dot Beard – she asked if we would remind you that the group is NOT meeting this month (they meet on third Tuesdays, so that would have been coming up next week), but they urge everyone to attend tomorrow’s Picnic at the Precinct at the Southwest Precinct (map), 1-4 pm. Next WSCPC meeting will be September 15th, and King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg is scheduled to speak.
On behalf of the Southwest Precinct Advisory Council, Pete Spalding reminds us of the big block party coming up this Saturday afternoon: It’s time for the annual Picnic at the Precinct (official flyer here). Not only will you get the chance to meet many of the SW Precinct-based police who work all over West Seattle (and South Park), as well as precinct leadership, but, as Pete says, “There will be free food, entertainment, most of the divisions will have their equipment out there, and we have 20+ community and service organizations signed up to be there to tell the community about the work they do here in West Seattle.” Covering the picnic these past two years (2007 here, 2008 here), we’ve noticed the equipment often includes high-tech crimefighting tools (like the robot in the ’08 clip above) that tend to impress picnic-goers young and old. Drop by between 1 pm and 4 pm Saturday – SW Webster will be closed on the precinct’s south side (map), just west of Delridge. (Forecast doesn’t sound too bad so far.)
(February 2009 WSB photo)
West Seattle has two of the city’s two-dozen-plus red-light cameras (35th/Thistle and 35th/Avalon), and Seattle Police have just issued a news release pointing out — as part of “Stop on Red Week” — that those are two of many reasons why NOT to run a red light – read on:Read More
Two of these 5 incidents happened early this morning. First, in the Westcrest Park area, multiple police units answered a call of a disturbance, followed minutes later by a report that five gunshots were heard. No report of anyone having actually been shot, but police pulled over a car at 8th/Trenton (map) and reported finding a shotgun in possession of one of the passengers. Second incident just happened – police raced to an assault report in the 2800 block of Alki (map), with a suspect reportedly running away, but found an “uncooperative victim,” and the call was canceled (but in case you saw/heard all those officers, that’s what it was about). Now, to three reports received earlier, from purported solicitors using a ruse to get into a man’s apartment and steal from him, to a bike theft and stereo theft – read on:Read More
(Monday photo by Kevin McClintic)
Thanks to City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and his staffer Brian Hawksford (both West Seattleites, incidentally) for sharing a report they received on the Seattle Police “crosswalk sting” at California/Dawson yesterday (here’s our original report). Turns out it was one of two conducted in the city yesterday afternoon – the other one was earlier, on lower Queen Anne. Neither spot had been “worked before,” according to the report they forwarded, which includes this excerpt:
From 3 PM to 4 PM, the squad worked the crosswalk at California & Dawson. Here we wrote 16 pedestrian right of way citations, plus 7 proof of insurance, 3 expired tabs, 1 seat belt, 1 no front plate, and 1 green arrow, for a total of 29 citations. Additionally, we issued a pedestrian right of way warning.
As noted in yesterday’s report, 92-year-old Rosemary MacCorkindale was killed crossing at that same spot last fall. Between the two locations worked yesterday, the forwarded report says, 221 crossings were made in all — 133 by officers and 88 by citizens — and 14.5% resulted in citations. SPD says the operation showed a “need” for such enforcement at both locations, so they’ll likely be back.
Bus riders who work downtown or who can get away at midday will want to know about this one – not just listening to politicians, but also a chance for you to ask questions — read on:Read More
Several people e-mailed and tweeted about a notable police presence at California/Myrtle (map) this afternoon. Here’s what we’ve found out: It was linked to the burglary case we reported here yesterday – a man breaking into an apartment at California/Raymond Tuesday morning, bolting when the apartment’s occupant screamed. Southwest Precinct Lt. Steve Paulsen says evidence from that scene has led them to identify a suspect; they were hoping to arrest him at the California/Myrtle location today and they have a warrant, but he wasn’t there – Lt. Paulsen says, however, they’re confident they’ll arrest him soon, adding that this is someone with whom area officers are familiar because he’s been arrested multiple times before. Lt. Paulsen also reiterates that evidence in this case has further verified this suspect is NOT tied to the South Park stabbings (no new info in that case so far – here’s the suspect sketch again).
That’s the hundreds-strong, standing-room-only crowd that jammed into South Park Community Center tonight to hear from Seattle Police leadership and Mayor Nickels, less than two days after a terrifying attack that left one woman dead and another seriously hurt: A man broke into their western South Park home – not far from West Seattle’s eastern edge (map) – and stabbed them while they slept, early Sunday morning. Flowers have been placed outside the home where it happened – we went by just before the meeting:
The same police who patrol West Seattle also handle South Park, so it was a familiar face, Southwest Precinct Captain Joe Kessler, who outlined how his team has responded and will continue to search for the killer:
Most importantly, as we showed you a little earlier tonight, police have just released a sketch of the man they are looking for, believed to have been a stranger to the victims. The description remains – per the SPDBlotter report – “a black male, 20s to early 30s, 5 feet 11 inches to 6 feet tall, thin muscular build, a thin moustache, and ‘nappy’ hair.” The victims have not been publicly identified — authorities say, “to protect their privacy” — but friends and neighbors have said they were a couple and, according to this Times story, about to be married. Police did allude to the victims being members of “a sexual minority” and as such say they have not ruled out the possibility this could have been a hate crime, though they do not have any evidence of that. Read on for more of what was said at the meeting:Read More
Thanks to everyone who sent notes via e-mail, Twitter and Facebook asking about a big police presence about an hour and a half ago in the Schmitz Park area. Southwest Precinct Lt. Ron Smith explained what it was about: He says officers pulled over a vehicle “for the purpose of IDing a suspect of an assault investigation.” However, the suspect bolted. Police meantime discovered the suspect also was “wanted for violation of a protection order,” according to Lt. Smith. With the help of K-9 tracking, officers found the suspect, who “will be booked for violation of protection order and obstruction of a police officer.”
(cameraphone photo added 5:11 pm)
Southwest Precinct police are responding to a robbery call at Westwood Village – believed to be the Alaska USA Credit Union branch in QFC. We’re on our way to check it out. 4:55 PM UPDATE: We’re on the scene. That is indeed the bank that was hit. No injuries that we know of. A K-9 officer is at the scene and while the bank branch is closed now, the store’s still open, for now. 5:27 PM UPDATE: Just talked to a manager at the bank. It will stay closed till about 7, then the manager says it will reopen for a little while in case people need to handle transactions as the week comes to a close – it’ll be open regular hours tomorrow.
Sasha e-mailed to ask about an incident this afternoon at 35th/Othello, involving a scuffle between officers and a suspect. We just talked to Southwest Precinct Lt. Ron Smith here at West Seattle Summer Fest – he says police responded to a call about someone acting erratically, and when officers approached the suspect, he “charged them.” A struggle ensued but the officers are OK. The suspect is being checked out at a hospital and could face charges of assaulting officers. 4:24 PM UPDATE: Another note came in, asking about a sizable police presence around 1:30 along 35th some distance south, apparently near Thistle – turns out it was related to the same incident, according to Lt. Smith.
That was the scene one sunny afternoon last August, as the Southwest Precinct‘s annual Picnic at the Precinct took over SW Webster west of Delridge for an afternoon of fun, free food and community mingling. The city’s Delridge District Service Coordinator Ron Angeles has just circulated this note inviting community groups to participate:
The Southwest Police Precinct is having their annual “Picnic at the Precinct” community BBQ on Saturday, August 15th. Community groups are now being recruited to have a free information table at the event. It’s a great way for organizations to reach a huge cross-section of the West Seattle community. To reserve a table, please contact Pete Spalding at bayouwonder@comcast.net
And even if you’re not interested in tabling – mark your calendar for the afternoon of August 15th! (Speaking of crimefighting-related block parties: Registration continues for the annual Night Out – if you register in advance, you get to close your non-arterial street to traffic that night, August 4 – here’s where to go to sign up and get more info – deadline 7/31.)
Can’t think of the last time we had occasion to link to a commentary by Ken Schram (with whom we worked at KOMO back in the days he hosted Town Meeting), but Kay sent word of this one, so we’re sharing: Schram is giving one of his not-necessarily-coveted “Schrammies” to the judge in last week’s sentencing (WSB courtroom coverage here) of the teenagers convicted in connection with last year’s attack on Southwest Precinct Officer Jason McKissack. Read his commentary here.
ORIGINAL 1:57 PM REPORT: We’re at the King County Courthouse, in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Chris Washington, who is scheduled shortly to sentence the three teenagers found guilty in connection with last year’s High Point attack that seriously injured Southwest Precinct Officer Jason McKissack one year ago (here’s the report on the verdict a month ago; here’s one of our reports from last year). A 17-year-old boy was found guilty of assault; a 17-year-old boy and 18-year-old girl were found guilty of obstruction of a law-enforcement officer. Five police officers are here in the courtroom so far to observe, in uniform; your editor here is one of two reporters present so far. We’ll publish the sentences (and any other information from this hearing) as soon as they are announced.
2:08 PM UPDATE: Officer McKissack, who is still on leave, is here as well – almost one year exactly after the attack (6/17/08). The three defendants have all arrived — all three in blue jeans, the two boys in white T-shirts, the girl in a gray sweatshirt – with six lawyers at the table with them (some of whom would be prosecutors, of course).
2:45 PM UPDATE: The first two sentences have been announced: For the girl, no detention; 75 hours of community service; 1 year of probation. She spoke briefly to the court, saying she didn’t believe she deserved detention time – but no words of apology. For the older boy (guilty of obstruction), no additional detention (he had already served 59 days, according to his lawyer), 150 hours of community service, 12 months of probation. He told the judge he knew what happened was wrong and what happened to the officer was wrong, but he wanted to say that he was not an evil person. Meantime, the officer’s wife and another relative have both addressed the court, with emotion in one case, emotion and fury in another.
3:29 PM UPDATE: The 17-year-old boy found guilty of third-degree assault has just been sentenced: No additional jail time (he apparently served 30 days electronic monitoring), 1 year probation, 150 hours of community service. This after a lengthy legal argument over the state’s request for an exceptional sentence. There is one more step in this case – a restitution hearing requested by prosecutors.
3:44 PM UPDATE: After a little more than an hour and a half, the hearing just concluded, as lawyers wrapped up paperwork and details. All three of the teenagers addressed the court, though none expressed remorse for what happened. Officer McKissack did not testify; in addition to his wife and another relative who spoke, one of the uniformed officers who were in attendance rose to address the judge before the sentencing ended. Here is our transcription of most of what he said:
We’re sending the wrong message – people have to be held accountable for their actions … I’ve been on the streets for 13 years … We’re getting into more fights, we’re getting assaulted more. At our precinct alone, we’ve had suspects bite officers twice in the past month, and I believe one was a juvenile. … We’re sending the wrong message. People have to understand – now, if you just hit, kick spit on officers, you’re not going to get any significant time … We’re not out there to be punching bags … (But people are) very comfortable, as if they know that minor assault on officers is not going to be held acountable. An assault on an officer is an assault on society. (But) an officer should not have to be stabbed, or have bones broken, for someone to be held accountable … This makes it hard for us out there. For those who [unlike testimony indicated, regarding these three] may truly be bad kids, the word is going to get out … and we have to go out and deal with them
A few more details to come, including the legal sparring between the prosecution and the defense – and ultimately, the judge sided with the defense, suggesting that if it wanted the case sentenced like second-degree assault, why wasn’t it charged as second-degree assault? – and what the officer’s family members told the judge … and the defendants. (By the way, the only other journalist in court with us was from the Seattle Times, and she may have some additional reaction, as she followed the police contingent out of the courtroom while the proceedings were down to the final details, which we stayed for – we’ll add the link to their story when we see it.) ADDED 10:48 PM: More details from the hearing — read on:Read More
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