Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole is not mincing her words in response to Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant’s repeated demands that O’Toole publicly answer questions about the police killing of Charleena Lyles.
“I write in short response to your earlier email, which reflects a disappointing level of ignorance of SPD policies and clear disdain for the investigatory process and review that SPD is court-mandated to follow,” O’Toole wrote Sawant in an email reported by the Seattle Times today. “Facts matter and pre-judgment of this incident by any of us would be completely irresponsible.”
Since June 18, when two Seattle Police officers shot and killed Lyles at her apartment after they say she brandished a knife, Sawant has called for a public hearing during which the public can ask questions of O’Toole. Sawant is also calling for an independent third-party investigation of the killing, outside the SPD’s normal internal investigation process.
Sawant’s colleague Council Member Lorena González, who chairs the council’s public safety committee, scheduled a hearing for tonight but said the chief would not be attending. (An SPD spokesperson said no one representing the department would be participating in the hearing.) In response, a spokesperson for Lyles’ family said some members would not participate because the hearing is “not what we asked for.” It may not be every family member, however. Elisa Hahn of KING 5 reports that Lyles’ father plans to attend.
Some activists refuse to attend tonight’s #CharleenaLyles town hall. Her father tells me he’s going to share a message w/ the public
— elisa hahn (@ElisaHahnK5) June 27, 2017
O’Toole’s letter came in response to an email from Sawant to González urging González to “require” O’Toole’s attendance at the hearing.
In her response to Sawant, O’Toole said SPD representatives “have spent countless hours, each day, from early morning until late night, engaging with Charleena Lyles’ family, her neighbors, clergy, and other community members. Out of courtesy and respect for her family, we have done so quietly and privately.”
The department has publicly released video and audio from the scene as well as transcripts of interviews with the two officers involved.
O’Toole wrote that she is willing to “participate in honest, constructive dialogue,” but expressed skepticism about Sawant’s motives.
“If you had expressed any interest in our work over the past three years, as SPD was striving to develop the policies, training, and systems for critical review that have become a model for agencies around the nation,” O’Toole wrote, “we would have gladly welcomed the invitation to engage.”
“I personally promise that SPD will honor our commitment to the family and community to provide transparency into this investigation and comprehensive review,” O’Toole continued. “I will not, however, join in any process that threatens to exploit this terrible tragedy for another’s personal or political gain.”
The hearing begins at 6 pm at the University of Washington’s Kane Hall and will be live-streamed here.
