Yesterday afternoon, Officer Grant Leavitt—the first responding officer on scene at the John T. Williams shooting—testified that no one other than Officer Ian Birk touched or moved the knife that Williams was holding (the knife he was supposedly threatening Birk with). That knife—two knives, actually—were found closed near Williams' body. Leavitt arrived on the corner of Boren Avenue and Howell Street roughly two minutes after Birk fatally shot Williams.

Here's the in-car video taken from Leavitt's car, which jurors saw for the first time on Monday. Note the large metal traffic control box Birk is standing directly next to. Birk testified that he didn't move after shooting Williams. That box would've made a pretty good cover from a knife attack, wouldn't it?

I had to cut out for the afternoon session of the inquest yesterday. These notes are compliments of Fern Renville.

—Asked to describe the crime scene, another witness—Officer Clay, another SPD officer—states that upon arriving he saw the prone John T. Williams and Birk talking with a group of other officers... he became a part of the "tactical line" that approached John T. in a single-file line, rolled John T.'s body, and then cuffed him.

—Once John T. was "secure" (cuffed), Officer Clay checked John T.'s carotid and brachial arteries for a pulse and found none. "That would indicate that there were no signs of life."

One thing I neglected to mention yesterday: Officer Birk said he never verbally identified himself as a Seattle police officer when approaching Williams. He was driving a marked patrol car, he was in uniform and had an SPD utility belt, but on top of never ordering Williams to "stop" or warning Williams he would shoot if Williams didn't put down the knife, he never said he was a cop.

Other posts on the inquest into Williams' death here, here, here, here, here, and here.