WSP, Inslee Respond To Video Of Trooper At Seattle Protest

SEATTLE, WA — Governor Jay Inslee and Washington State Patrol leadership condemned comments made by a trooper during a Seattle protest Tuesday night after video of his remarks spread across social media.

The video was filmed by Krystal Marx, deputy mayor of Burien, and retweeted more than 25,000 times by Wednesday evening. Marx told the Seattle Times she hoped WSP would use the incident to listen to marginalized communities and do better in the future.

The governor addressed the trooper's behavior during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

"Last night there emerged video of a member of our State Patrol instructing officers on how to respond to what was a tense and potentially dangerous situation," Inslee said. "The language that he used was not in keeping with what we expect of our State Patrol officers. We know that officers in positions of leadership are looked up to by their subordinates, which makes their choice of words very important in these tense situations."

Inslee directed John Batiste, WSP's chief, to complete a full review of the trooper's actions and take "any appropriate response that is necessary."

Chris Loftis, a WSP spokesman, shared a statement with Patch earlier in the day, apologizing for the trooper's behavior and expressing support for peaceful protests.

"WSP became aware of this video soon after it was posted last evening and apologized immediately," Loftis wrote. "We continue to apologize for the poor choice of words by one of our team leaders preparing his troopers for a possibly confrontational situation and recognize the hurt and confusion it has caused. We hope the public will accept that apology and we ask for grace and understanding as our troopers are serving in tense situations of danger and difficulty."

WSP goes on to account for the circumstances surrounding the video.

"The team leader was doing his best in the hear of confrontation to create a mental environment for his troopers where they could do a 'push' maneuver," Loftis wrote. "That's where we actively push aggressive, non-compliant, and threatening protestors away from a designated area."

WSP said the trooper's intent of "motivating and reassuring" his team was "commendable," but his word choice was not.

"Both he and WSP are accountable for what we say and do," Loftis wrote. "Make no mistake, we fully understand the shared and appropriate outrage people are feeling and expressing about what happened in Minneapolis."

Video of the trooper is the latest to prompt questions about law enforcement's handling of recent protests. Seattle's Office of Police Accountability said at least 15,000 complaints alleging police misconduct were filed since Friday night. Approximately 12,000 of those were filed in the first three days.

Read WSP's full statement below: