Assistant Police Chief Demoted Over 2020 Seattle Protest Orders

SEATTLE — An assistant Seattle police chief has been demoted to captain, resulting from his actions as incident commander during protests on Capitol Hill last summer. Interim Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz announced his decision Wednesday, two weeks after he reversed disciplinary findings against a lieutenant who authorized the use of tear gas, pepper spray and blast balls on a large group of demonstrators on June 1, 2020.

Videos of officers' use of force, beginning with ripping a pink umbrella out of a protester's hands and dousing the front line with pepper spray, were shared widely across the nation.

In declining to discipline the lieutenant earlier this month, Diaz wrote that orders on the ground were influenced by decisions made "at levels of command above" him, and he could not be held directly responsible, despite the Office of Police Accountability's findings that his actions lacked "sufficient basis" and subjected thousands of peaceful protesters to unnecessary force.

The chief's decision drew considerable criticism, including from the city's accountability branches. OPA director Andrew Myerberg said he stood by his findings and disagreed with the chief's reversal, and the Community Police Commission said it further undermined public trust.

On Wednesday, Diaz announced he had instead removed the lieutenant's superior, an unnamed assistant police chief, from his command staff for his role in overseeing the protest response that day.

Diaz writes:

"As I noted, I did not believe it was fair or principled to hold the [lieutenant] responsible for circumstances created at a higher rank of command, where fundamentally I believe accountability for the outcome of the weekend of May 29th – June 1st should land. We owe it to both the community and to our officers who are tasked to operate within a framework rooted in command decisions to ensure that we identify and address root causes of outcomes that we all can acknowledge were problematic. For this reason, and considering all of the information that has come before me and performance that I have personally observed, I am writing to advise that I have removed the Incident Commander from the position of Assistant Chief and returned him to the Captain rank, as required by Seattle Municipal Code 4.08.060 (2)(a)."

Diaz said he arrived at his decision after reviewing the assistant chief's planning and decision-making during the protest and determining they "laid the groundwork for the escalation of tensions that followed." The moment was pivotal for last summer's protests, and tensions built on Capitol Hill over the following week as officers blanketed the neighborhood in tear gas on multiple nights. The police department abandoned the East Precinct on June 9, leading to the formation of the initial Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.

The chief said the assistant chief's command decisions diminished confidence that he could perform the role in the future.

"Fundamentally, I must have confidence that each and every member of this department’s sworn Command Staff, regardless of bureau assignment, be able to step into an incident command position as circumstances may require," Diaz wrote. "This demotion is a reflection of my lack of confidence in this individual’s ability to do so."