Comments

1
This is having a very negative effect on our tourist trade.

People in Atlanta GA are concerned that their rights to whittle and carry green peppers are being sold out for paranoia.

Soon, we will only be allowed to accept tourists who have no clothes on, at the rate we're going.

Either that or the SPD needs to not think that Driving While Black, Walking While Brown, or Whittling While Native are shooting offenses ...
2
Based on the witness account in the Seattle Times and the fact that the cop has only been on the force for 2 years, this looks like a case of an officer fucking up very very badly. This guy should not be on the streets with a gun.
3
fuck, i carry that exact same knife ($9.95 at home depot!) in my bag every day. will i be shot next if i'm trimming my cuticle on my walk to work and don't hear a cop shouting at me over my headphones?
4
I have that knife also. As does my good friend, Lancetastic.
5
I hope SPD doesn't ever wander into a restaurant or a home ec class. We'd have to open a new city graveyard.
6
Assault with a deadly pepper!
7
And the suspects will come, they'll counter the officers story and yet nothing will come out of this. After viewing the video of some of the artwork he carved and the brief statement by the office worker, this really makes me angry.

I dont give a flying fuck that the guy was told to drop the knife, he was walking away and posed no threat. Fucking lazy ass rookie cop too bothered to get off his ass and chase down after a suspect or even call for backup in order to give the guy an official ass beating.

All for the crime of minding your own business. Lots of people carry knives, he was using it to make art, to sell for food or booze. That isnt a crime, never will be. Cop should be fired and arrested. But dont worry, it will never happen. It doesnt matter what I say. It doesnt matter what the majority of people think. Cops will continue to fuck up, on the job, and face little or no reprimand.
8
Aren't my hands "potential deadly weapons"?

This does sound like a police error.
9
The cop should be behind bars right now. They're pretty much pointless in this city anyway. So hell, prosecute all of them under organized crime laws and be done with it. Useless fucks, all of 'em.
10
Possibly install 360 degree cams atop police cars.

Possibly make all cops wear those neck cameras.
11
I understand why an officer might draw down on a guy brandishing a knife. Fuck knows, if I was on the beat and some mope stepped to me with so much as a pointy stick, I'd light him up. But this guy wasn't threatening anybody, not even the cop. How would this situation have played out if the guy was deaf or hard of hearing? How is the SPD so trigger happy? In my opinion, we've got too much recruiting from the county and from other departments. We need more people from the city itself, people with street smarts.
12
I'm generally quite pro-cop and in favor of giving them the benefit of the doubt, but this sure sounds like a terrible--and not so understandable--mistake was made.
13
@11: agreed. This reads like a case of small town Fear Of Other. This city needs actual city cops, not people who think pot smokers and black whittlers are more dangerous than white meth heads.
14
I take comfort in knowing that this cop will carry this to his grave. Unfortunately, it'll be the only punishment he gets.
15
#14: I'm sure he enjoyed it.
16
Two years on the force? 27 years old? I wonder if this cop is an Iraq war vet.
17
This is so unbelievable. The cop pulls over, yells from ten feet away to someone to drop a whittling knife, and then shoots him dead from that distance in less than a minute!?! How is that justified at all? The SPD need to do some serious, serious de-escalation training in their dept if their officer's first action is to shoot someone to kill.
18
SOUNDS LIKE MURDER! i am disgusted.
19
this is an epic tragedy. this makes me ashamed to live in seattle. the vey fact that people are not crying in the streets for this policeman to be in CUSTODY or under pysch evaluation is evidence that the dominant social climate in seattle is accepting this and or not questioning it. i am overcome.
20
19, eh calm down. we need to give him due process. that means we need to have a thorough investigation where in the process we exonerate him completely and call him a Real American Hero®.
21
@ 11, 13 - SPD apparently recruits from NYPD, for whatever that's worth.
22
The victim, John Williams, was a skilled wood carver, Native American.
23
channel 2 northwest news showed some of his beautiful carvings tonight and his picture. i didnt know him but i know him from the bus and walking through the city. i didnt know him but john williams was a man and he didnt deserve to die.
24
Wow, SPD should just come into this thread to find witnesses, since apparently you were all there and saw exactly what happened. What are the odds that everyone in this thread would have been right there to observe the incident firsthand?
25
The Seattle Police Department wants to hear from you!

https://www.seattle.gov/police/contact_f…
26
i havent been millions of places i know are or were fucked up
27
I'm sorry but since when did the word veteran come into usage for anyone on the force for any period of time? Doesn't veteran denote some experience? Can you be a two year "veteran" of the force? I looked it up and a wiki answers said that if you have seen combat you are a veteran in relation to the armed services. Can you be a veteran for murdering citizens? He definately has gained some experience from the episode, something which the use of the word "veteran" usally infers. I bet next time a guy is minding his own business, with even a 4 inch knife, this SPD veteran will be able to kill him dead in a time even quicker than a minute. Maybe he could just stay in the car and drive by shooting to be even safer.
28
@16 that was my exact thought on monday when the news broke. and sadly in my gut i knew exactly who had gotten shot. this militaristic machismo bullshit has got to stop.
29
hurt people hurt people.
30
So if you're an artist it's ok to ignore a cop's orders and go at him with a knife?

31
This knife wielding whittler sounds like a typical Slogger:

"In the past 20 years he has 30 such convictions, including public indecency (5 convictions); lewd conduct, disorderly conduct and indecent exposure."

Apparently it’s ok  when your wave your First Nation cock at tourists while holding an open beer in Pike Place, it’s a native greeting.
32
The beauty of his wood carvings has nothing to do with the case.

I suppose if he was advancing towards the officer or lunging at him with the blade (legal length or otherwise) shooting in self-defense would be justified. If he was walking away or refusing to cooperate but holding his ground, etc. then it seems like pepper spray or waiting for backup would be more appropriate.

More details needed.
33
The 360 degree camera atop a police cruiser is an interesting idea ... or what about cameras out the side windows?
34
So the guy was carrying a piece of wood and a knife? Did the cop even ask him, "Excuse me sir, what's up with the knife?" Suspect gesturing with wood, "I'm a wood carver and I'm like to work here."

Did that happen at all? The guy clearly wasn't threatening anyone and had the knife in plain sight.
35
@16 Get ready for a lot of this crap, all around the country, for the next generation. These soldiers are coming back from multiple tours in a war zone having learned few "real world" skills and gained many forms of psychosis. They won't be able to deal with the passive aggressive bullshit of office politics, so law enforcement & security jobs are going to be very popular for them. We're not exactly grabbing our "best & brightest" for front line infantry anyhow, so it's not going to be pretty.
36
this makes my chest hurt.
37
@7 for the win.

Not that there are any winners when cops gun down citizens.

Please wait...

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