The street racing was caught on the SDOT traffic camera at the intersection
The family of Essence Greene, the 20-year-old shot and killed last July as late night crowds formed around street racers outside the fences of the Capitol Hill Block Party at Broadway and Pike, is suing the music festival’s producers.
KOMO is reporting on the lawsuit it says blames organizers “for failing to disperse the crowd so people could safely leave the event.”
KOMO reports the lawsuit, which does not appear yet in King County Superior Court filings, blames producers Independent Event Solutions for failing “disperse the crowd from the event or move barriers so the crowd could disperse more easily.”
The annual Capitol HIll Block Party is a three-day festival that is unique as one of the few music events of its scale in the country to be operated as a ticketed event on city streets.
Greene was one of four people shot when gunfire rang out as large nightlife crowds were dissipating after the street racing takeover of the intersection after the 2023 Capitol Hill Block Party’s second day had ended for the night.
Family said Greene died at the hospital four days after the 4 AM Sunday shooting. She was 20 years old.
CHS reported here on the SPD response to the street racing crowds that began to form outside the festival’s fences around 1:30 AM that Sunday as the second day of the music festival was winding down. East Precinct radio traffic and bodycam video from the night revealed a chaotic scene as the crowds quickly repelled police attempts to shut the gathering down. “Initial attempts to disband the crowd were met with resistance,” SPD said in its statement on the response. “Officers remained in the area to respond to life-safety events.” SPD and the police union also blamed staffing shortages after a “sick out” by nearly half of the city’s officers over the weekend the tragedy occurred.
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There has not been an arrest announced in the case. Meanwhile, the intersection continues to be a target for street racing gatherings, one of many around Seattle.
The Seattle Police Department and the City of Seattle do not appear to have been included in the Greene family lawsuit.
Organizers for the event acknowledged the tragedy and said they are preparing a complete security plan for the 2024 event next month.
“We extend our heartfelt condolences to the victims and families impacted by this incident, and we stand in solidarity with our community in denouncing any form of violence,” the producer said in a statement. “It is important to clarify that this unfortunate event occurred many hours after Capitol Hill Block Party concluded, outside of the festival’s footprint.”
“We will have volunteers stationed throughout the festival grounds to monitor for wellness or safety issues that may arise during event hours and will route to appropriate health and security professionals as needed,” Block Party organizers said. “We are committed to creating a safe, enjoyable, and memorable festival experience for everyone.”
The 2024 CHBP is scheduled to take place Friday, July 19th through Sunday, July 21st with its main stage again on E Pike just east of Broadway.
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This is a tragic death, and my condolences to the family. However, I fail to see how the situation is the fault of the block party producers. The block party was long over at 4am when the shooting occurred.
Yeah this seems like a quick way to get rid of any remaining fun thing in Seattle.
Agreed! The festival had nothing to do with this street racing event. This intersection is outside of the festival grounds too…
Exactly. Outside the grounds, after the event, and if memory serves the area in question does not have a non-emergency exit in that location. So anyone who gathered there would have to have left the grounds from a different area, then walked around to that location (assuming those gathered were attendees, which I doubt many were). Tragic situation, but unless the event permit states CHBP was responsible for 24 hour crowd management outside of the festival grounds (doubtful) then there’s no fault. This is settlement fishing.
I agree. This lawsuit seems kind of frivolous and an opportunistic attempt to grab some cash.
I think the suit mostly stems from when the head of SPOG confirmed that SPD had a sudden case of Blue Flu on this night. Which in turn caused a lapse in coverage as they had to do crowd control for the Swift concert and the CHBP.
Lengthy incarceration is the answer to gun crime.
People in this neighborhood pretend that it isn’t, but it is.
The victim is dead already. Imprisoning the perpetrator doesn’t bring them back to life and doesn’t prevent the other dozen times this happens ever day. We need to ban guns to prevent more gun deaths otherwise we are accepting more gun violence and death. This is obvious.
“doesn’t prevent the other dozen times this happens ever day”
Given that individuals who have committed acts of violence against others without repercussions are more likely to do so again…yeah, I think imprisonment helps marginally prevent reoccurrence. I agree with your sentiment on guns, but your statement above is foolish.
Jason Lajeunesse was also found to be union busting at Comet Tavern by the NLRB in November 2022. Case 19-CA-314958. He’s a horrible person, I hope they’re able to sue the fuck outta him.
May be so, but irrelevant to this situation.
Well considering that the pike pine capital hill business are all “we are the people” that is pretty telling as to how he views the employees and the patrons. They are just a dollar and labor. But hey, if you know him, you get to ride on his boat and do mountains of… because every one is so on the up and up.
Again, may be so, but has absolutely nothing to do with the circumstances surrounding the shooting. He may be a shitty person, but that doesn’t mean CHBP bears responsibility for anything that happened after hours and outside of the festival grounds.
Guns every time. Guns are used in crimes. What else? Anyone?