A big shout out to the Times, whose strong coverage of the trial must have helped push the County into realizing if damn well needed to settle. The Times paid to send their reporter Sara Jean Green to cover witness testimony last week and this - last night she published her report on the paramedic testifying that he had to demand an explanation from the officers, and that the assholes chuckled and told him Harris ran into the wall.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/lo…

I'm sorry Slog wasn't able to follow the Times's coverage. I think Ms. Green did a terrific job, and hope she realizes she helped the Harris family get this result.

And what were the repercussions for Deputy Matthew Paul, the thug that nearly killed him?

@2 Exactly.

For all the shouting and hollering about the SPD (and that shouting and hollering is very justified, don't misread me as saying I don't think it is), KCSD always struck me as the real thugs in uniforms in Seattle. Those of you who live there ought to be demanding a Justice Dept. probe into Sheriff's, too.

"death squads" not just for RIO anymore. ftp

@2

An internal Sheriff's Office investigation into the incident determined that Paul delivered a "hard shove" that fell within legal bounds.

The King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office declined to file criminal charges against the deputy, calling the confrontation "a very tragic incident."

It sounds like the thug's back on the streets "protecting" his community again.

$10 million will never restore Christopher Harris to the normal-functioning human being he once was. The video footage was sickening to watch. Only a mentally-deficient moron wouldn't recognize the probability of catastrophic injury for slamming someone into a wall like that. May karma come back around and cause Deputy Paul immense suffering over the rest of his life.

I agree that the family deserves a shit ton of monies for pain and suffering and for what I'm sure are very hefty medical bills. But I does irk me that the county (The people of the county) is paying to make amends for some thug cops actions. The guilty party is the KCSD, KC Metro PD, and officer Paul -- what are they paying? This money should be coming straight from their budgets and from a garnishment from Paul's paychecks for the next millennia.

I'm a mostly tax lovin' lib but I will not vote to provide money to either SPD or KCSD, period. How many lives have they taken or destroyed just in recent time? How is it that I am afraid to even interface with them? How is it that their MO is now to intimidate (or worse) first, ask questions later. How much more empirical evidence is necessary before the politico's, who ultimately control law enforcement, decide enough is enough and that it's law law enforcement that has become "the enemy" and not so-called social justice training?

I recused myself during voir dire recently by truthfully stating I would not believe the testimony of law enforcement on the stand as it was my view they would lie to obtain a conviction or protect their story even if they new the defendant was innocent. And that pissed me off, getting kicked off, for what virtually everyone in the room knew was the truth.

@9 Hey thanks. Because of short sighted people like you, I lost one of the few KCSD officers in my unincorporated city. Yes, there have been some horrible instances of police brutality and it terrifies me, but not as much as NOT HAVING A FUNCTIONING POLICE DEPT. Good work.

Is there a list out there of all settlements/pending actions against the SPD/KCSD? I'd be curious to see how much this incompetence is costing us.

@10: Don't forget to thank the law enforcement agencies, too, for losing the trust of the people. How many LEO officers do you think $10,000,000 could have paid for?

It's a good whack of the clue-stick to KCSD, but how far will $10M really go toward providing a lifetime of 24x7 care?

@13,

If he lives 50 years, $10 million will yield $200k/year, and that's assuming his family doesn't invest the money and put it in a trust (which would be really stupid not to do).

@10 file a complaint with the KC council for allowing the county to hire thugs that got so many in the County to turn against them. The blame starts at the top, with them, and Sue "Fuck you, King County" Rahr.

If I cost my employer $10 million, I'd be out on the street.

We should find out if this $10m is being paid as a lump sum, to allow the family to invest it and support the victims from its earnings, or will a much smaller sum be used to buy an annuity, to make annual payments that would total $10m only after many, many years.

Good news. I hope that's enough.

The officers were joking about it? That just add infuriating insult to injury. Can the officer be sued civially, as an individual, apart from this case?

The joking reinforces the mentality of the officers who write for that guild newsletter (supposedly only limited to a "few" officers out there).

Hopefully someone will smash Matthew Paul's head into a concrete wall.

Has the fuck shown any remorse? Or does he believe he was justified?

A zero is missing from that settlement. Seriously. Ten million is not going to go very far towards making the county feel enough pain to rein in these rogue cops.

@14-subtract a likely 30-40% + expenses, which can be high, for the plaintiffs lawyers, and the family is likely getting 6-7 million, if that. Lot of cash, and if invested right, may or may not afford the poor man and his wife a lifetime of care, depending on external factors.

The nausea I get watching that disgustingly violent video? priceless. it's truly a breach of justice the officer wasn't charged and is still employed in LE.

@1, @2, exactly. The money for pay-outs like this should come directly from law-enforcemnt agencies' pension funds. Hit them where it hurts. The more they stand to lose the more civil they are likely to become. I have never had more than a jay-walking ticket yet I find myself more afraid of police on the street, than hooligans.

I used to work with a close family member of the Harris' and I am incredibly pleased to read these results!

The Stranger's "news department" hard at work.

@21: If Isaiah M. K. Kalebu had after running from the police stopped and stuck his hands up in surrender, and had been slammed into a concrete wall, we'd still attack the officer who did so. We'd have little to no sympathy for Kalebu, since he's a murdering thug, but it's still not okay for an officer of the law to assault someone who is cooperating with them.

@10 - you're welcome, I'll continue to help in any way I can to destroy the KCSD, a group of overpaid criminal thugs who were one of a few, if not the only group not to accept pay cuts/raise deferral in order to keep everyone on the payroll.

I'll say it again

the KCSD disgusts me they are everything law enforcement in a republic should not be. Not every one of them at the personal level, but as a department, yes, it's rotten to the core (as it would appear SPD is as well) and a total housecleaning is in order - as much as it takes, until the people in charge and the ones on the streets relearn the "protect and serve" approach - if they don't like that, hey, it's not like they were drafted - they can go get a job as prison guards where it's likely it will still be a-okay to beat and kill people for a living.

Yeah, I don't say it lightly, but I think the only justice for an officer who jokes about destroying someone's life - and the lives of his loved ones - and then tries to cover it up deserves the same fate.

Matthew Paul, you're a fucking piece of shit, a sorry excuse for a human being, and a blight on the planet. May you someday get what you deserve, you worthless son of a bitch.

The Stranger has been good about being all over Ian Burke, but has dropped the ball on this one. Paul needs to be fired. This needs to be the start of the conversation on this case, not the end. What is going to be done to prevent this in the future? In some ways this is as bad or worse than the John T Williams case. At least Burke had the pretense of a weapon. This guy clearly stopped running, raised his hands up and was still body checked into a wall. Might as well have shot the guy. How is body slamming someone into a wall not considered using deadly force? The same way hitting someone on the head with a nightstick/baton or running into someone with a car is deadly force?