A flashpoint moment captured on video in one of the most infamous nights of battle between Seattle Police and protesters during 2020’s wave of Black Lives Matter and anti-police demonstrations in the city resulted in a seven-day suspension without pay, according to the results of an Office of Accountability report (PDF) finally released last week.

Meanwhile, a court case against one of the combatants in that night’s police and black bloc clashes has also reached its conclusion.

In findings announced last week, Seattle Police’s Eric Walter was handed the weeklong suspension for his use of “prohibited force” in a September 23rd incident in which investigators found the officer intentionally ran over the head of a downed protester with his patrol bike as his SPD contingent rode into a clash with demonstrators and black bloc protesters on E Pine during a night of conflict over the police killing of Breonna Taylor:

CHS reported on the chaotic night that followed the summer months of demonstrations including the formation and removal of the CHOP occupied protest. Seattle Police and activists reported at least 13 were arrested and several people were injured including officers and demonstrators, some posting pictures online of their injuries from the hard foam rounds fired by police to disperse crowds late in the night.

Earlier that Wednesday, a vigil brought speakers and lit candles on a rainy night to the steps of Seattle’s federal courthouse after a grand jury in Kentucky declined to file homicide charges in the March 2020 killing of the 26-year-old Black woman. On Capitol Hill as the vigil continued, groups of two to three hundred formed and marched, beginning a pattern of back and forth, slow motion pursuit with police vehicles blaring sirens and flashing lights to try to break up the marching crowds.

After reconvening in Cal Anderson, hundreds of demonstrators marched through the Hill again and around Broadway back toward 11th and Pine, the center of clashes with police during the CHOP occupied protests this summer.

Around 10:45 PM, a large boom could be heard from a firework thrown onto East Precinct’s garage ramp. Police soon flowed out of the precinct at 12th and Pine after they said someone “cut security cameras” at the walled-off and heavily fortified building. Police aggressively pushed into the crowds, appearing to target a handful of demonstrators for arrest, and sending many fleeing and choking from clouds of pepper spray and explosions from pepper bombs.

In the chaos, widely distributed video showed the officer later identified as Walter riding near the front of a squad of armored bike officers in riot gear and passing directly over the head of a helmeted demonstrator lying face down in the middle of the street as officers leapt off their bikes and began using the frames to push the large crowd of demonstrators back.

The police at the #seattleprotests just ran over an injured mans head with their bikes. @SeattlePD is this how you train your officers? pic.twitter.com/c4e146tsmi

— Martin Banks (@WarlockBranis) September 24, 2020

The protester, known for playing his trumpet at the front of marches at demonstrations and tangling with police through the summer, was not seriously injured and was later arrested for investigation of failure to disperse and obstruction.

The demonstrator did not pursue charges against the cop who ran him over. According to the OPA report, the City Attorney’s office reviewed the case but declined to prosecute Walter citing “the Subject’s failure to cooperate.”

Video of officer Walter’s act quickly spread and became a major part of debate beyond the city about the ongoing anti-police protests continuing in Seattle and Portland.

Critics of the demonstrations argued that SPD’s injuries and another video from the night showing an officer being struck in the head by a demonstrator with a baseball bat proved that police should crack down on the protests.

Jacob Greenburg, 19-year-old stepson of a former Washington State representative, was later charged with the baseball bat assault along with charges of arson over alleged Molotov cocktail attacks at the East Precinct.

According to King County Superior Court records, Greenburg’s case ended this week with a plea deal in which prosecutors have recommended a five-year sentence for first degree arson and second degree assault.

Just as social media imagery helped push the bat assault into the wider debate over Seattle’s anti-police protests, the OPA investigation of Walter also hinged on the power of platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

“In OPA’s estimation, this incident was extremely harmful for the Department at a time when its legitimacy was being questioned by many in the community,” OPA director Andrew Myerberg’s report on the incident concludes. “The video of NE#1 rolling his bicycle over the Subject’s head added to and amplified this criticism of the Department. Given the public outcry after this incident, NE#1’s actions clearly diminished public trust and confidence in him and in SPD.”

The Seattle Times reports that the police union is appealing the suspension.

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