Comments on Seattle Police Department Settles Police Brutality Case

...And in other news, Seattle's liberal democrats, including The Stranger staff, react in complacent silence as the Bush administration's Department of Justice finds that Seattle's King County Jail has been egregiously violating the civil rights of it's pretrial prisoners.

Apparently, according the democratic officials in charge of the jail and judging by the utterly silent response from Seattle's liberal community, it's ok to violate human rights, torture, and kill prisoners before their day in court, so long as your name isn't Bush.

Oh, and congratualations to Alley-Barnes. Be thankful that you were one of the few lucky ones that found a lawyer in Seattle that was willing to listen and take on your case.

Good luck to you.

cue RonK Seattle angry rant about how we're all reactionaries and Alley-Barnes had it coming in 3, 2, 1...

Wow, it is settled. This means NOTHING except it is no longer on the court docket. I know many people who have had less "attractive" cases against SPD (release of records, etc.) who got much higher settlements.

The city paying out "enough" to end this case is not guilt, it's good fiscal management. Anyone who was TRULY damaged would/should hold out for a trial.

Settling out of court usually means you had a shaky case at best.

PS.... DJ DV One (DJ DV 1) was unanimously found guilty of assaulting a police officer by a jury of his peers. The pretrial motions, the incident, the arrest, etc. were all EXTENSIVELY covered by The Stranger. I have seen nothing covering the fact that the justice system, wait, a jury of unbiased citizens, found him guilty.

6-0, 9-0, or 12-0 they found him guilty. Seems to me The Stranger (as a 'legitimate' new source) might want to footnote his singular claims to reflect the currently accepted version of what happened. I'm sure they will not but they should think about the fact that a unanimous jury heard ALL evidence from both sides and made a legal decision based upon that evidence. The Stranger should review their sources, their "in-depth" reporting, etc. and maybe cons.... wait, never mind, I am misguided. I was writing that under the notion that the Stranger IS or WANTS TO BE a "news organization" instead of a sensational organization.

The fact that DV1's conviction did not make headlines after all the build-up says it all!

settle=0 = RonK Seattle? = police officer or family of police officer?

I'm sorry this didn't go to trial. A full-tilt federal evidentiary proceeding would have provided an excellent learning experience for a lot of people here.

Meanwhile, a legitimate and important case of police misconduct found its way to a definitive conclusion, and Slog barely noticed. Two officers disciplined, and a piddling $8,000 settlement, where the victom was clearly within his rights ... and the rights in question were clearly First Amendment rights.

@ 4, it was covered extensively on Slog. While the decision was unanimous, there's debate over the instructions the jury was given about the nature of assault charges vs. intention of contact made with the officer. We'll probably hear more when it goes to appeal.

i'm glad, because this demonstrates that SPD is being held accountable somewhat. and even if not every case ends similarly (i'm thinking DV1), you have to question because of cases like this one.