Slog
News & ArtsSunday, June 24, 2012
Crime New Video of Last Night's Protest Appears to Show SPD Officer Rushing Man Who Was Standing Still and Pepper Spraying Him Point-Blank in the Face
Posted by Dominic Holden on Sun, Jun 24, 2012 at 10:43 PM
A Slog tipper just sent this video that may shed more light on the clashes at the dance-party protest near last night's Pride festivities. Seattle police and witnesses have offered dramatically divergent accounts of what led up to police pepper-spraying people and arresting six suspects, with officers citing the use of pepper spray as a direct response to assault and unruly behavior. But John writes: "The video clearly shows that the man they arrested for assault did not initiate any physical confrontation with police. I was also present, and witnessed no attack on the commander."
The video is a little overwrought, especially the beginning and the end, but you should definitely watch it:
With the caveat that this is just one video and not the final word on the situation: The footage appears to show a man standing near the curb, arms by his side, looking toward the middle of Madison Street, when an officer rushes up and blasts him in the face with pepper-spray. The man is then pulled to the ground. The man was later charged with assault, the video says (and the SPD blotter says one of the suspects hit with pepper spray was charged with assault). There's no way to know if this guy had assaulted police earlier, but this video seems to show that he's not touching any cops—nor close to any cops—when the officer hits him with the pepper spray.
As the video points out, the city's 20/20 policing reform plan specifically calls for using pepper spray as "a self-defense tool, or as a last resort option when all other legal, effective force options have been exhausted." (The cops certainly don't appear to be defending themselves or in a last-resort situation—based on this limited footage—when they spray this man.) The cop wielding the spray, the video further alleges, is one of the key lieutenants appointed to implement the 20/20 policing reform plan.
1
That is the pub where I had my first ever red beer - pilsner with tomato juice. I thought it was very sophisticated.
2
Little Gregg Calder probably got his ass kicked too many times in high school. Now it's payback time.
3
How about instead of giving each one of these ACAB press-releases its own post, you just stick everything in the original story, mark it UPDATED, and kick the timestamp to bump it to the top of the page?
5
Why is the playback of this YouTube video all fucked up? I can only watch 10-15 seconds at a time, and then it freezes up.
6
Maybe the cops need mini-EMP generators to wipe out all of these annoying cameras. Have it actuate automatically when the cop uses a gun, taser, nightstick, or pepper spray.
7
Man what is being reported here and on the news sites and stations is very different. And pepper spraying is better than them using their guns, this way people don't die.
8
Pathetic, normal people don't act this way. This is someone who's tasked with being much more than normal and this brings disrespect to the human race. I hope another officer will have the courage to stand up for truth and justice, pending that these thugs are clearly above the law, we're not safe if people like this are so well protected. If cops are willing to lie about this I don't see how they can ever win back my trust. I think on some level they don't want it, which is really sad.
9
@6 You don't see any problem with that? You don't find that to be the least bit illegal, or in violation of people's rights? To the rights of freedom of the press? Wow. People like you are never going to understand. Delirian...More like Delirious.
11
It's stunning to me how some people are still inclined to give the police the benefit of the doubt in these kinds of situations, given the well-documented history of abuses by the SPD.
And no one even questions the cops' presence at this shindig. They want to get people out of the street, but no one even questions the legitimacy of that. What's wrong with people taking a party to the streets and inconveniencing a few drivers late at night? The street is one of our few public spaces. Don't we have the freedom to assemble there?
And no one even questions the cops' presence at this shindig. They want to get people out of the street, but no one even questions the legitimacy of that. What's wrong with people taking a party to the streets and inconveniencing a few drivers late at night? The street is one of our few public spaces. Don't we have the freedom to assemble there?
13
See also: "Remember Stonewall Demonstration (QFQ Solidarity)", Friday, June 29, 2012, at 8:00 p.m., Seattle Central Community College, Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/43239375…
14
I'm not sure what planet the folks at Komo live on but this doesn't sound anything like what actually happened. Just sayin' ~ http://www.komonews.com/news/local/6-arr… I live right off Cal Anderson Park, I love living here and I wouldn't trade my place for anyone elses. People happy and dancing in the street? OH MY GOD! That's terr'ble...For crying out loud, SPD, just when I think you can't get any dumber, you do. In light of all the problems SPD is currently facing (and I haven't forgotten what happened last Wednesday evening on Broadway) someone thought it would be a good idea to go disrupt a Capitol Hill tradition that wasn't hurting anybody? Way to go, SPD, again. Wow. Someone make it stop.
15
@14
Gosh, you're right, it sure is strange that the reporting from some journalists looks a lot different from the ACAB-black-bloc-is-a-tactic-not-a-group press-releases Dominic's been posting verbatim.
Gosh, you're right, it sure is strange that the reporting from some journalists looks a lot different from the ACAB-black-bloc-is-a-tactic-not-a-group press-releases Dominic's been posting verbatim.
18
@15: But... Black bloc *is* a tactic, not a group. To state otherwise would indicate a misunderstanding of the term. For comparison, consider "Blue Wall of Silence". That's a tactic used by police, not any particular group of police, even though certain police (most of them, in fact) regularly engage in it.
Could you please provide links to a few of these press releases you claim Dominic has been posting verbatim?
Could you please provide links to a few of these press releases you claim Dominic has been posting verbatim?
19
@15/17 ~ That's exactly right, and since you weren't able to stick to the subject matter at hand I assumed you were the latter. I hate to disappoint anyone (especially you, robotslave), but I really don't read the stranger much since Lindy West left. I'm so sorry, but that's just the way it is. Whatever bone you've got to pick isn't mine.
20
@18
While black bloc is indeed a tactic, and not a group, we have passed the point of farce in using that distinction as an excuse to pretend that there isn't an identifiable local group that engages in said tactics at every opportunity.
I can indeed provide links to Dominic's verbatim repostings of press materials produced by members of the local group which consistently engages in black block tactics, subscribes to the the ACAB ethos, and works tirelessly to delegitimize not just bad Seattle cops, not just Seattle cops, but all cops, and all policing of any kind, everywhere:
Link #1
Link #2
And honestly, Phil, you should feel pretty fucking ashamed to be playing dumb about the ACAB faction, at this point in the game. You know who at least some of them are. You know what they believe. You know perfectly well that they use more acceptable or mainstream political events as cover for their provocation of the police, and that they do this as a deliberate tactic.
This stuff is all out in the open now. It's been covered extensively by The Stranger, and by countless other media outlets around the country, mainstream and non. There was a time when you could plausibly pretend that this kind of crap was all just purely spontaneous, initiated by different and unremarkable citizens in each and every instance, and that there couldn't possibly be an organized, politicized group dedicated first and foremost to delegitimizing the police through direct action. That time is behind us now, and you're doing neither yourself nor your ideological allies any favors when you try to live in the past.
More...
While black bloc is indeed a tactic, and not a group, we have passed the point of farce in using that distinction as an excuse to pretend that there isn't an identifiable local group that engages in said tactics at every opportunity.
I can indeed provide links to Dominic's verbatim repostings of press materials produced by members of the local group which consistently engages in black block tactics, subscribes to the the ACAB ethos, and works tirelessly to delegitimize not just bad Seattle cops, not just Seattle cops, but all cops, and all policing of any kind, everywhere:
Link #1
Link #2
And honestly, Phil, you should feel pretty fucking ashamed to be playing dumb about the ACAB faction, at this point in the game. You know who at least some of them are. You know what they believe. You know perfectly well that they use more acceptable or mainstream political events as cover for their provocation of the police, and that they do this as a deliberate tactic.
This stuff is all out in the open now. It's been covered extensively by The Stranger, and by countless other media outlets around the country, mainstream and non. There was a time when you could plausibly pretend that this kind of crap was all just purely spontaneous, initiated by different and unremarkable citizens in each and every instance, and that there couldn't possibly be an organized, politicized group dedicated first and foremost to delegitimizing the police through direct action. That time is behind us now, and you're doing neither yourself nor your ideological allies any favors when you try to live in the past.
21
@19
Neato, a guy who doesn't read The Stranger anymore, yet still posts comments on it. Interesting that you seem to know what "the subject matter" ought to be (and what is that, exactly?), what with not reading it to begin with...
BTW, "playing dumb" is when you pretend you don't know what ACAB stands for, or what a black bloc is. "Being dumb" is when you don't know how to google them.
Neato, a guy who doesn't read The Stranger anymore, yet still posts comments on it. Interesting that you seem to know what "the subject matter" ought to be (and what is that, exactly?), what with not reading it to begin with...
BTW, "playing dumb" is when you pretend you don't know what ACAB stands for, or what a black bloc is. "Being dumb" is when you don't know how to google them.
22
@21 ~ You will address me as Mistress ooppoddoo or I won't respond to any more of your posts. HA ha ha...have a lovely morning, robotslave, I know I'm enjoying mine. Good bye, and good luck.
23
Hmmm... look at that video again; the first iteration, not the cropped & edited bit the propagandist --er... I mean "video blogger" -- repeats a couple times.
At the 50 second mark you can clearly see a guy get up on top of the hood of a car and start jumping up and down, then HE is the first one to be pepper sprayed. Which bares a striking resemblance to theis passage from the SPD blotter:
And if you step it through frame by frame you can clearly see that "dude just standing on the sidewalk" wasn't just a couple seconds before that. (But the camera jerks around too much to see where he was or what exactly he was doing before his hastily retreat to the sidewalk.)
Jus sayin...
At the 50 second mark you can clearly see a guy get up on top of the hood of a car and start jumping up and down, then HE is the first one to be pepper sprayed. Which bares a striking resemblance to theis passage from the SPD blotter:
Officers saw an unknown man jump on top of a parked car and begin to stomp and jump up and down on it. Officers ordered the man to stop and get down off the car. The man refused, and pepper spray was used.
And if you step it through frame by frame you can clearly see that "dude just standing on the sidewalk" wasn't just a couple seconds before that. (But the camera jerks around too much to see where he was or what exactly he was doing before his hastily retreat to the sidewalk.)
Jus sayin...
26
@11, actually, blocking the streets is illegal. Sidewalks are for people and streets are for cars. Police are expected to clear out groups blocking the streets.
That said, they could have just shut off the music and stopped the flow of alcohol and that probably would have cleared the streets pretty quickly without any violent confrontation. If that didn't work they probably could have gotten out their bullhorns and held that nasty beep note it's got for a while and 90% of the people would have left. If that didn't work they could have just lined up, held hands and pressed the crowd from the street. I didn't see any need for pepper spray in that situation, especially against the guy that was just standing there.
That said, they could have just shut off the music and stopped the flow of alcohol and that probably would have cleared the streets pretty quickly without any violent confrontation. If that didn't work they probably could have gotten out their bullhorns and held that nasty beep note it's got for a while and 90% of the people would have left. If that didn't work they could have just lined up, held hands and pressed the crowd from the street. I didn't see any need for pepper spray in that situation, especially against the guy that was just standing there.
27
@26 Streets are for everybody. Don't let the car-heads convince you otherwise. Pedestrians were here first. If it's technically against the law to congregate in the street, I assume they'll start pepper spraying the tourists at Pike Place.
28
@20: Robotslave, I don't see any press release in either of those posts. I see eyewitness reports and a link to SPD's PR statement.
I don't know specifically what "ACAB faction" means, though I know plenty of people who are fed up with the small fraction of SPD staff who engage in misconduct and with the vast majority of the rest of the staff, who stand by silently while than misconduct occurs.
If, as you suggest, a bit of provocation at a "mainstream political event" is all it takes to set off these gun-toting powder kegs, then maybe we should be grateful when they are detonated in a controlled manner with lots of eyes on them.
I don't know specifically what "ACAB faction" means, though I know plenty of people who are fed up with the small fraction of SPD staff who engage in misconduct and with the vast majority of the rest of the staff, who stand by silently while than misconduct occurs.
If, as you suggest, a bit of provocation at a "mainstream political event" is all it takes to set off these gun-toting powder kegs, then maybe we should be grateful when they are detonated in a controlled manner with lots of eyes on them.
29
I blame Occupy for not giving these people anything useful to do. Any more they seem to do nothing but chase spotlights to film themselves teasing cops in. Now, tease a cop spontaneously, I might admire your spirit. But gather in a clump the Saturday of Pride two years in a row just to attract police to tease and film reacting, I'm sorry, you're just making nuisances of yourselfves. To leverage our Pride celebration for your YouTube morality plays is just silly. Two years in a row now. Please don't make it three.
30
All I see is a 10 second clip being over analyzed by someone who is clearly biased. Could someone post the full un-edited video?
Once there are more videos posted, will anyone be able to determine exactly what happened. Its hard to trust the word of people who were there, given how drunk everyone was.
Once there are more videos posted, will anyone be able to determine exactly what happened. Its hard to trust the word of people who were there, given how drunk everyone was.
31
Nothing to worry about. The review people will check out all the facts, watch the video and then exonerate the officer. They system works!
33
Timmy @23 - There's a guy who hops on top of a car to get a better angle with his iPhone to take photos/video, and he's promptly pepper sprayed. Then a second or two later the guy is when the second guy is sprayed, allegedly by Calder. The second guy doesn't seem to be doing anything other than standing there when SPD are pushing people to the sidewalk.
I don't see any reason for pepper spray in either of the two videos. Way to stay calm, SPD.
I don't see any reason for pepper spray in either of the two videos. Way to stay calm, SPD.
34
@23. I think you missed it. The guy on the car was filming with his phone camera. They sprayed it and then a second later, you see the guy in the background get sprayed. I don't see how it can be the same guy as the guy on the car (and why the hell do you pepper spray someone for being on top of a car?). Yeah, I'd say lawsuit in the works on this one. Get ready taxpayers.
36
The dude on the car definitely isn't jumping up and down. He jumped onto the car to film and got a face full of pepper spray, I'm sure. Of course the SPD Blotter will say he was jumping up and down on the car, because that sounds "worse." I would be fine with someone jumping on my car to get a better shot of police brutality...
37
The dude on the car definitely isn't jumping up and down. He jumped onto the car to film and got a face full of pepper spray, I'm sure. Of course the SPD Blotter will say he was jumping up and down on the car, because that sounds "worse." I would be fine with someone jumping on my car to get a better shot of police brutality...
39
we cant allow the spd to gay bash, show them it serious and be assertive y'all come to this demo @ Seattle central @ 8 on Friday here is the link http://www.facebook.com/events/432393753…
41
@28
That's really how you're going to play it, Phil?
You're going to just put your head down and bull ahead saying, "gosh, I've certainly never heard of anyone in Seattle with any interest in delegitimizing the police via Direct Action?"
That's really how you're going to play it, Phil?
You're going to just put your head down and bull ahead saying, "gosh, I've certainly never heard of anyone in Seattle with any interest in delegitimizing the police via Direct Action?"
43
I've never heard anyone in Seattle express interest in "delegitimizing the police via Direct Action".
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