Police Chief Reverses Discipline In 'Pink Umbrella' Protest

SEATTLE — A Seattle police lieutenant will not face discipline for authorizing officers to use pepper spray, tear gas and blast balls on a large crowd of protesters on Capitol Hill last in June 2020, the interim police chief announced Wednesday.

The "pink umbrella" incident on June 1, 2020, was a pivotal moment during last summer's racial justice protests, and videos of the officers' overwhelming use of "crowd control weapons" were shared widely across the nation.

One of the central pieces of footage, captured by Converge Media journalist Omari Salisbury, shows an officer at the East Precinct barricade yank a pink umbrella from a protester's hands as officers begin to douse demonstrators with pepper spray. Within a few seconds, pandemonium erupts as a large crowd flees blast balls and tear gas.

The show of force escalated on Capitol Hill over the following week, blanketing the neighborhood in tear gas on multiple nights. It led up to the police department abandoning the East Precinct and the formation of the original "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" on June 9.

The Office of Police Accountability released its investigation on the pink umbrella incident in January, sustaining two misconduct findings related to crowd management policies against the lieutenant.

OPA investigators reviewed multiple videos from the night of the protest, including footage from officers' body cameras and video captured by bystanders. The OPA interviewed the officers, witnesses and people who filed complaints, including the person holding the umbrella. In his case summary, OPA director Andrew Myerberg also referenced an in-depth analysis of the videos published by the New York Times.

Ultimately, Myerberg said he found little evidence that the crowd presented a threat to the officers when they deployed force. The OPA director also noted that thousands of peaceful protesters were subject to the same use of force, contrary to policy. As the commanding officer, Myerberg said the lieutenant bore the responsibility of his subordinates.

"OPA does not find that there was a sufficient basis to disperse the crowd in its entirety and, while doing so, to subject thousands of protesters, the vast majority of whom were not engaging in violence, to blast balls, OC spray, and CS gas," Myerberg wrote. "While line officers are responsible for their individual deployments, ultimately, due to his role and given the protest context, [the officer] bears responsibility for their actions."

Under Seattle's existing police accountability structure, the OPA director sends his findings to the police chief, who makes a final disciplinary decision. On Wednesday, interim Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz said he was reversing the OPA's decision and would not discipline the lieutenant.

In a letter addressed to Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and City Council President M. Lorena Gonzalez, Diaz argued the lieutenant's orders were influenced by decisions made "at levels of command above" him, and he could not be held responsible.

"As a simple matter of fairness, I cannot hold the Named Employee responsible for circumstances that were created at a higher level of command authority and for carrying out decisions made at a higher rank," Diaz wrote. "For that reason alone, I would change the finding."

The chief goes on to say that while mistakes can be apparent in hindsight, officers had to make "real-time decisions in the midst of the unprecedented circumstances at hand."

"As was the case in jurisdictions across the nation, I believe we must acknowledge that these events overwhelmed not just the Seattle Police Department’s capacity, but indeed the City’s capacity, at all levels of government — including planning, command, and operational levels," Diaz wrote.

In the letter, the chief also said he expected his decision would generate "scrutiny," but maintained his decision was a matter of fairness and not politics.

Shortly after the letter was published, the Community Police Commission, whose members are tasked with making policy recommendations, strongly condemned the reversal. The CPC said the chief's decision demonstrated a lack of accountability and further harmed the public's trust in law enforcement. Commissioners also noted that only a small handful among the dozens of OPA protest probes had resulted in misconduct findings.

"We are concerned by Chief Diaz’s decision to overturn the OPA findings in this case, the justice denied to peaceful protesters, and the harm this decision will do to trust in the Seattle Police Department and Seattle’s entire police accountability system.

In his decision to overrule the Office of Police Accountability, Chief Diaz states that officers were overwhelmed and uses the fact that the situation was complex as justification for this police officer’s use of force, despite the fact many officers involved in that same incident did not commit similar misconduct. He says the decision to meet peaceful protesters with force was made at a “higher level of command” but does not detail how he will be holding that higher level of command accountable. In doing so, he denies justice to thousands of Black Lives Matter protesters who marched against police brutality only to be met by indiscriminate police violence.

SPD has repeatedly pointed to its cooperation with ongoing OPA investigations as proof of its commitment to accountability. There have been tens of thousands of complaints against SPD over the past year, but only a handful of investigations have met the high bar OPA has set to find police officers have committed misconduct. This case met that high bar. Chief Diaz’s decision to overturn OPA’s decision is detrimental to community trust in SPD and Seattle’s entire police accountability system.

This decision illustrates why the Community Police Commission (CPC) has repeatedly called for a ban on SPD’s use of weapons like tear gas and blast balls – since even when it is clear an officer abused these weapons, SPD refuses to hold them accountable.

Finally, the CPC was not given any advance notice of Chief Diaz’s decision. We were informed through SPD’s social media post. In the spirit of partnership, notice of this decision in advance as envisioned by the Accountability Ordinance would have been appropriate."

In a statement sent to the Seattle Times, Myerberg said he accepted but did not agree with the chief's decision and stood by the findings of his investigation.