Comments

1
The Police Guild will do nothing.

And the City Council will say lots of nice words and do nothing.

This is Seattle, after all.
2
Yeah, that second option. That's the one.
3
Above all else, we must maintain the illusion our police are not violating the law, including having the police violate the law.
4
Go, Etherly, Egan and Lobsenz! So sorry this happened to Mr. Etherly. It's good to see lawyers working light a fire for him. I remember Egan from back when he ran for the board of the late, lamented monorail project.

And thanks for posting the complaint Lobsenz filed, Cienna. It tells quite a tale of SPD intransigence and stonewallery, and shows Egan was really staying on top of it for Etherly.
5
Just release the video without permission.
6
This isn't helpful. Just when the department gets on its own 2 feet they start dragging behind a cop who likes to beat people for fun. Either throw this guy under the bus by doing your job or admit your department is worthless. You have 24 hours.
7
Good thing for dash cams. It's really frustrating though that these cops can beat people with complete and total immunity. It's time to throw the fuckers in jail where they belong.
8
The charges were dropped in 16 days? That's pretty much an admission of a SPD civil rights violation.
9
Good on Egan and Etherly for keeping the pressure on the police department, and I am sorry that Mr. Etherly has to endure partial blindness (!) because some asshole decided his as yet unconvicted crime merited maiming.

Obviously the point isn't just this particular incident (or else they would leak the video anonymously), it is to attack the administrative means by which the police prevent the public from holding them accountable. That is an excellent, necessary step to prevent abuse like this from happening in the future. Seattle's cops have no intrinsic desire to change, and other elected officials have no will to challenge them. It is up to the courts, the bureaucrats, and the media to strip away their defenses.
10
@5,

I'm sure Egan would love to leak the video, but then he would face sanctions from the state bar association. Surprisingly, the law profession is a model of self-regulation -- exactly the opposite of your typical police guild.

On the one hand, I'm sort of surprised to see SPD screwing the pooch this way. They've already admitted that Esterly has an absolute right to receive a copy of the video, and for all the effort they've spent articulating reasons why they can't release it yet, they could have released it five times already.

On the other hand, it's now obvious what SPD's real issue is: they really, really don't want to release videos of controversial incidents until after the corresponding OPA investigation has concluded. They can live with the public outrage as long as it comes later, after the officer has been officially exonerated.
11
The SPOG are Seattle's Al-Qaida
12
Dear SPD officers who feel the need to beat people and make up charges.

I'm sorry that your dicks are so small, but beating people isn't a cool way to release that anger. AND I AM FUCKING TIRED OF PAYING FOR THIS SHIT.

Here is my new plan. We take the total dollars spent on SPD payroll, and remove any legal judgements away from that fund. All SPD officers get a base salary of 50k a year, and whatever else they get through time or promotion will be a bonus.

So if the bonus pool is 100 million, and there are 25million in judgements, then everyone gets a 25% cut to the year end bonus. Hell we could tie in all kinds of performance related incentives.

So all that detective overtime, you know, to cover those illegal terrorists playing poker in speakeasy's, won't be 60k extra this year, it will be 45K. It is the only thing we have that can truly punish someone who is licensed by the state with the power to illegally kick someones ass and get away with not being punished. So when those officers that were pulling down 225k a year are suddenly getting paid 175 for the same work, the union will clean up it's own house.

13
Every single officer in SPD should be fired and build the department back from scratch. Sure, we'd be faring for ourselves for a while, but aren't we doing it already AND getting the shit beat out of us by SPD? Fuck. Them. Fire them all.
14
Wow, can't the Seattle cops ever beat up someone WITHOUT a rap sheet as long as my arm?
15
I hope whatever apologia McGinn had built up over the SPD/DOJ lawsuit has now been destroyed. There is no reason to believe anything the SPD says. The situation needs to move from negotiation between the city & the SPD to the city saying STFU and the SPD taking it like an adult, instead of the spoiled brat performance they've been trotting out for decades.
16
officer faust, eh? how appropriate
17
@14 too bad he wasn't guilty of the crime they pulled him over for, huh? Also, where is Etherly's rap sheet? It's really as long as your arm? I wanna see.
18
A truly deplorable situation, but my gayness won't let me not think of a lawyerly human centipede.
19
@14,

Good point. Speaking for myself, I'd probably worry a lot less about the rights of people with rap sheets if I hadn't had the experience of getting arrested & charged as a result of false statements by certain SPD officers.

I'm glad you're here, I'm glad you're taking part in the conversation. But the next time you see one of your colleagues playing loose with the facts, that'd be a good time to think about what a rap sheet really means nowadays.
20
Leo Etherly has past arrest and convictions for assault, DV and indecent exposure. Leo quite the court record if you care to look it up, he has been arrested in 5 cites and 3 counties, he is certainly no stranger to law enforcement.
21
Mayor McGinn condones the withholding of legal, public documents, just ask any staffer.
22
Are the police not aware that their cars have dash cams? Not only does the SPD consist mostly of thugs, but it seems stupidity is a widespread problem as well.

I propose a new enlistment requirement: an IQ score above 50, so at least it's only mild retardation.

Maybe next time, morons, prop the perp up on the trunk before you commence with beating the shit out of him.
23
Interesting that the SPD won't allow the video to be released but they have spent plenty of times in the various Stranger articles on this incident trying to shift public opinion. I'm sure they are doing it over at the friendlier to the 3rd Reich, Seattle Times.
24
@14 That's EXACTLY what needs to be done. Decisions against the police for rights violations need to be paid for BY the police out of their own pockets. Not the taxpayer.

A single $1 million settlement might hurt for a while, but I guarantee peer pressure will breed a new attitude amongst the wild-wild-west crowd working there now.
25
@14 That's EXACTLY what needs to be done. Decisions against the police for rights violations need to be paid for BY the police out of their own SALARIES. Not the taxpayer. Not the bonus pool, which should be RESET TO ZERO EACH TIME.

A single $1 million settlement might hurt for a while, but I guarantee peer pressure will breed a new attitude amongst the wild-wild-west crowd working there now. And empty out some slots for civilized replacements.

Please wait...

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