The City of Seattle is facing a wage theft lawsuit over errors from a new system that handles payroll for its more than 13,000 workers.
The new suit alleges the city’s implementation of the Workday payroll system has caused “problems related to underpayments, incorrect paycheck deductions, missing leave accruals, and excessive overpayment deductions,” Geekwire reports. Continue reading
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Prosecutors have filed murder charges against the man arrested in last weekend’s deadly shooting during a dispute over an electric scooter at a 12th Ave encampment.
William Bender, 30, is charged with second degree murder and unlawful possession of a handgun in the killing at the camp. The suspect has past arrests for burglary, malicious mischief, trespass, and violating a domestic violence protection order among other convictions. He is being held in King County Jail on $2 million bail.
CHS reported here on details of the early Saturday killing of 38-year-old Carl Hatfield who witnesses said beat up Bender who was reportedly trying to sell a scooter that morning at the camp. Police say one witness told them Hatfield was shot while riding the scooter after having taken it from Bender over a dispute over a stolen phone. Continue reading
The Seattle Times reports that the city’s new criminal banishment zones aren’t being used by police or the justice system and only one person has so far been banned from a zone — a person arrested for drug use on Capitol Hill.
According to Seattle Municipal Court records obtained by CHS, the lone Seattle “STAY OUT OF DRUG AREA ORDER” was issued in December in a bust for smoking fentanyl outside the Harvard Market QFC.
“I observed XXX had a ‘tooter’ straw in her mouth. She had a piece of tin foil held up under the tooter straw,” the redacted SPD report on the incident reads. “Beneath the tin foil, XXX apparently had a lighter she used to ignite something on the surface of the tin foil and inhale the resulting smoke through the tooter straw.” Continue reading
The E Pine original (Image: Rudy’s Barbershop)
The company now behind Capitol HIll-born beauty brand Rudy’s Barbershop and a handful of PNW standards collected by the private equity firm during the pandemic has reached a deal hoped to help the company from being forced into bankruptcy.
Sortis Brands reached the agreement and averted a key hearing last week with a group of creditors engaged in a federal court battle that could have forced the company into bankruptcy over a disputed $8 million in debt.
Details of the arrangement still need to be approved by Oregon’s U.S. Bankruptcy Court but The Oregonian reports the proposed settlement has tentatively staved off liquidation for the company. Continue reading
Family and loved ones of Elijah Lewis are worried that court proceedings are stacked against justice as the trial of the man who shot and killed the 23-year-old community leader and activist and injured Lewis’s young nephew in a road rage confrontation on Capitol Hill begins.
Defendant Patrick Cooney pleaded not guilty in the April 1, 2023 killing and has remained jailed on $2 million bail since. Lawyers for the 37-year-old are set to argue Cooney shot Lewis in fear he would be run over as he rode a rental Lime scooter up E Pine. Lewis was in the neighborhood to pick up his nephew from his nearby apartment home and take him to a monster truck rally at Lumen Field to celebrate the child’s birthday. Much of the confrontation was captured on security video.
Cooney’s defense team has successfully argued to limit some evidence from being presented to the jury when proceedings begin including that police reported the shooter was also armed with a knife and his firearm lacked a serial number.
Judge Sean P. O’Donnell also ruled to limit the presentation of police records showing Cooney has been investigated for firearm incidents multiple times while riding Lime scooters around Capitol Hill prior to the shooting. Continue reading
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(Image: Mighty-O Donuts)
As a doughnut invader from the south prepares its sweet assault on the city with a Capitol Hill beachhead, a veteran of Seattle’s fried dough scene is financially struggling.
Federal court documents show Mighty-O Donuts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July in a case where the filings continue over the more than $1 million in liabilities the small Seattle company carries.
CHS has asked the company for more information about its future and its employees after the filing that came as Might-O founder Ryan Kellner saw profits at his four cafes and production facility dip to near zero this summer.
In its filing, the company blames the pandemic and national economic issues for its troubles saying “a combination of factors, including the adverse effects of the pandemic, increased costs due to inflation, decreased sales, and high fixed lease costs” led to the bankruptcy.
“Mighty-O experienced modest growth for many years until the COVID-19 pandemic in
2020,” one document reads. “The pandemic severely impacted Mighty-O’s ability to operate a financially sound business. The company experienced a significant drop in customer traffic and a decrease in employee availability, preventing it from operating at full capacity. Additionally, Mighty-O faced major disruptions in supply chains, vendor services, and rising costs due to inflation.” Continue reading
HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.
Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.
The man charged in the murder of dog walker Ruth Dalton has been deemed not fit to stand trial after a court-ordered mental health evaluation.
Jahmed Haynes exhibits characteristics of “Unspecified Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorder” behaviors, Antisocial Personality Disorder, and Cannabis (Synthetic) Use Disorder and is not competent to stand trial, according to the report from the Office of Forensic Mental Health Services.
Haynes must undergo treatment at Western State Hospital in an effort to restore his competency including the use of “psychotropic medications.” He cannot be reevaluated for at least 90 days.
“During this evaluation, Mr. Haynes demonstrated significant difficulty engaging ni meaningful
communication. His responses were often disorganized, nonsensical, or irrelevant. While he was able to provide some correct factual information, his responses were impaired by the deficits ni communication consistent with psychosis,” the evaluator’s report based on an interview and study of Haynes’s past mental health treatment reads. “The quality of speech and thought process made it difficult to fully assess his legal knowledge.” Continue reading
(Image: Friends of Madison Park)
As the community is working to honor Ruth Dalton and raise funds for a memorial to the 80-year-old neighborhood dog walker slain in an August carjacking in Madison Valley, her alleged killer has been charged with assault, animal cruelty, and first degree murder.
Jahmed Haynes now faces charges of murder in the first degree plus second degree assault and a charge of first degree animal cruelty for allegedly killing Dalton’s dog in the Tuesday morning, August 20th carjacking.
CHS reported last week on his arrest blocks from his Capitol Hill apartment and early details in the case against the convicted felon.
The King County Prosecutor says the 48-year-old could be sentenced to life in prison under the charges. Prosecutors say Haynes’s criminal history is extensive and that he had been imprisoned for crimes including a 1993 vehicular homicide in Seattle and a 1999 armed robbery in Renton until recently following a conviction in 2003 during his incarceration that added 15 more years to his sentence through 2021 after Haynes attacked a Monroe prison guard with a crude knife fashioned from a 12-inch piece of metal. Continue reading
