Seattle OPA Adds 53 Cases, Releases 1st Protest-Related Findings

SEATTLE, WA — The number of investigations probing allegations of officer misconduct at recent Seattle protests grew to 87 on Friday. The Seattle Office of Police Accountability announced the 53 latest cases the same day it published its final findings in an investigation dating back to June 3.

The OPA has logged more than 19,000 complaints since May 30, in the wake of widespread demonstrations against police violence and systemic racism. More than 12,000 of the complaints were received after the first weekend of protests, with a majority referencing a video that showed a young child moments after being pepper-sprayed. Overall, the most common complaints relate to excessive force.

The latest additions include allegations that an officer drove onto a sidewalk, nearly hitting protesters, on Aug. 13. Several others resulted from police use of force during a protest near the East Precinct on July 25, including the alleged targeting of journalists and legal observers.

At least 16 investigations are listed as between 80 and 90 percent complete, indicating the final findings are now being drafted. Many concern officers' actions near the Capitol Hill barricade before police abandoned the East Precinct in early June:

• Officers punching during arrest (May 29)
• Officers' knee on necks (May 30)
• Inappropriate comment (June 4)
• Officers pushed protesters back from barricade (June 5)
• Almost striking protesters with vehicle (June 1)
• Bicycle officers moved protesters (June 7)
• Pepper spray & knee on neck (June 4)
• Officers pushed down elderly man (May 30)
• Physical force & unprofessionalism at barricade (June 6)
• Injury during arrest (July 1)
• Baton strike to face while clearing CHOP (July 1)
• Gun pointed at peaceful protester (June 2)
• Protester arrested for violating curfew, property missing (July 1)
• Individual pepper sprayed (May 31)
• Grabbing umbrella from protester & foul language (June 7)
• Biased arrest of protester (June 5)

First protest-related investigations complete

The OPA's demonstration complaint dashboard shows two of the 87 investigations are now complete: one probing an "unprofessional comment to protesters" in early June, and another examining a threat heard over a police scanner app. So far, a case summary has only been published for the latter case.

According to the findings, the OPA initiated an investigation after a Seattle Times reporter e-mailed about a radio transmission where a person could be heard saying "shoot 'em all, let's just [expletive] shoot 'em."

OPA investigators reviewed a Reddit thread discussing the incident and learned the comment was heard on Broadcastify, a website that streams public safety communications. A poster on the thread said it appeared that the radio transmission came from King County Youth Services, a juvenile detention facility.

Investigators then went back and listened to available recordings of all police channels and said they could not find the comment within the date and time range shared online, concluding it likely did not originate within SPD.

According to the case summary, OPA spoke to the head of King County Youth Services who told investigators the division did not monitor or record its radio channels.

Final conclusions from OPA Director Andrew Myerberg:

"Had an SPD officer made the statement captured on radio, it would have constituted a violation of the Department’s professionalism policy. However, based on the totality of the evidence, OPA finds that the statement was not attributable to an SPD employee. Instead, OPA ultimately concludes that the radio channel in question was operated by King County Youth Services. OPA comes to this determination based on three main reasons.

First, OPA believes that the Reddit poster’s analysis connecting the radio channel to King County Youth Services was correct. Indeed, the Seattle Information Technology Radio Communications Manager came to a similar conclusion.

Second, the radio traffic on the channel was inconsistent with a tactical channel or any other SPD frequency. Most notably, the transmissions were infrequent and addressed issues more akin to those occurring in a corrections facility (i.e. temperature checks).

Third, OPA listened to all of SPD’s radio transmissions from the date and time in question and conclusively determined that there was no evidence of the statement.

While the comment in question was certainly abhorrent, it was not made by an SPD officer. As such, OPA recommends that this allegation be Not Sustained – Unfounded."