Tag Archives: 12th and pine

Free speech: Jury awards $680K to protesters arrested in 2021 Capitol Hill anti-cop graffiti case

Posted on by
4

Four protesters arrested in the winter of 2021 for marking the East Precinct with anti-police messages in chalk and charcoal were awarded $680,000 by a jury last week in a federal civil rights lawsuit that has played out over years of injunctions and appeals.

Lawyers for Derek Tucson, Robin Snyder, Monsieree de Castro, and Erik Moya-Delgado argued the Seattle Police Department and officers Ryan Kennard, Dylan Nelson, Alexander Patton, and Michele Letizia violated the group’s First Amendment free-speech and peaceful assembly rights over the temporary anti-police messages scrawled in chalk and charcoal around the East Precinct and on cement barriers placed outside the facility at 12th and Pine in the wake of the 2020 protests. Continue reading →

SPD orders inspections after video of Capitol Hill’s East Precinct shows Trump flag, mock gravestone — UPDATE

Posted on by

The Seattle Police Department is apologizing and Chief Adrian Diaz has ordered inspections of the precinct headquarters across the city after revelation of a video from 2021 showing a mock gravestone for a Black teen shot and killed by police and a Trump flag on the walls of Capitol Hill’s East Precinct.

CHS reported here on the body-worn video taken around the time of the January 6th United States Capitol attack showing a “TRUMP 2020” flag and a mock gravestone for Damarius Butts — a Black 19-year-old killed in a “justified” shooting by Seattle Police.

Friday, SPD released a statement on the video. “While we do not know the origin of the items in question from 2 ½ years ago, there is no doubt they are inappropriate,” the statement begins. “We recognize the hurt and disappointment this has caused.” Continue reading →

Police bust up crowds for fifth night in a row after demonstrations and fires in the street follow Cal Anderson march

Posted on by

(Image: Matt Mitgang with permission to CHS)

A large march in solidarity with protest movements in Portland and around the world traveled from Capitol Hill to City Hall and back Saturday. For the fifth night in a row, the demonstrations ended with police locking down the blocks around the East Precinct and streets covered with fire retardant foam.

Like the early days before the CHOP protest occupation, there is no clear end in sight to nightly clashes with police and property damage from police and protesters as demonstrators demand major systemic changes and SPD shifts its strategies nightly to try to quell the crowds. Some point to the City Council’s overrides of Mayor Jenny Durkan’s vetoes of budget cuts to the Seattle Police Department but there is much left to be worked out on that front as concern grows over how the Durkan administration will respond and deploy the millions in community funds earmarked for Black and BIPOC-led organizations. Meanwhile, incidents of police killings continue to stoke frustrations. Continue reading →

Until SPD gets its East Precinct act together, Capitol Hill salon says will keep its E Pine location closed

Posted on by

(Image: Bang Hair)

A Capitol Hill hair salon owner says they are temporarily shuttering their E Pine location until Seattle Police can change the tense situation around its East Precinct at 12th and Pine. The precinct’s new security wall isn’t helping.

“Seattle is not unifying in any capacity, the divide is becoming greater,” Bang owner Casey Nikole tells CHS. “That wall is a symbol of that”

Last week, Nikole sent an email to Bang clients letting them know that Bang’s E Pine near 12th location that had just recently reopened after a COVID-19 shutdown is, for now, closing.

“Our proximity to the 12th Police Precinct continues to make our block wrought with tensions,” the announcement reads. “Our staff have endured unnecessary stress due to the actions/inactions of our local government and this location has become too unpredictable to operate with a regular schedule.” Continue reading →

‘Tough days ahead’ — Seattle braces for ‘solidarity w/ PDX’ clashes — UPDATE: Saturday big march and fire at the youth jail leads to riot on Capitol Hill

Posted on by

Saturday’s protest carried into the night. More updates below.

UPDATE 7/25/2020 4:15 PM: A massive march from Broadway and Pine circled the East Precinct and rallied as more protesters joined Saturday in a solidary action with Portland that included more targeted property damage including large fires set to the ongoing construction site at the 12th Ave youth jail and broken windows and smoke inside a Starbucks on 12th Ave. Broken windows were also reported at other nearby businesses.

The large crowd numbering in the thousands began its march around 2 PM and rallied with groups including .Wall of Moms rallying support for protesters in Portland and calling for a list of Black Lives Matter demands in Seattle including defunding the Seattle Police Department. Continue reading →