Crime & Safety
36 People Shot By Seattle Police Since 2010: Report
Almost half of the 36 shot died, according to a database of police-involved shootings in the U.S. since 2010 created by Vice News.
SEATTLE, WA - A new database of police shootings in the U.S. shows that 36 people were shot by Seattle police between 2010 and 2016 and nearly half died from their wounds. Vice News compiled the data from the 47 largest police departments in the U.S. for a story published Monday.
According to the data, 17 people died after being shot by Seattle police between 2010 and 2016. Racially, blacks and whites made up a majority of shooting victims (27), but white people were more likely to die in a shooting. Ten out of 15 white people shot died while four out of 12 black people died. Two Native Americans were shot during the period, and both died.
All but one of the shooting victims was a man. Twenty-four of the shootings involved white Seattle officers, according to the data.
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See the Seattle police shooting statistics here
Two of the shootings were found "not justified," according to the data, but one of those decisions was overturned by Chief Kathleen O'Toole.
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In one shooting, which happened Dec. 31, 2014, three officers opened fire when two cars exchanging gunfire drove by them along South Eddy Street. When police stopped one of the vehicles, there was no gun inside, although a gun was found on the street nearby. The Force Review Board ruled the shooting not within department policy and recommended the officers for discipline - but O'Toole overrode that decision.
On Sept. 4, 2013, an officer cornered a woman in a parking lot in North Seattle. The officer's gun went off, apparently unintentionally, and wounded the woman. She lived and was later taken to jail on felony and misdemeanor warrants.
There have been three high-profile Seattle police shootings in 2017. In June, two officers shot and killed Charleena Lyles in her Magnuson Park apartment. In early October, multiple officers opened fire on a vehicle as it fled from them. In April, police shot and killed Damarius Butts after he apparently opened fire on them during a foot pursuit in downtown Seattle.
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