Comments

1
How could someone not realize that there are inherent dangers to throwing explosives at people?
3
"OPA interviewed officers who said they threw the blast balls, but said they couldn't determine who threw the one that 'caused concern for the complainants.' For that reason, OPA dismissed the complaints the following year."

My Gawd, how fucking Convenient.

As per usual, Anarchists* will, most likely, go around breaking shit -- once again, giving SPD carte blanche to over-respond with violence. Well played, assholes.

* They are the ones needing to be stopped.
5
The protest marches Ive seen for the last 30 years in Seattle seem to accomplish nothing other than pissing off people just trying to get home after work.. and business's who suffer damage due to rioting. .
6

"there was the 33-year-old man who recently pleaded guilty to bringing and throwing unlit Molotov cocktails at the protests (one of which ignited when an officer dropped a flash bang and lit up his own pants)"
Wrong on three, possibly four, accounts: (1) it was the spilled gasoline from the unlit Molotov that was ignited 32 seconds later by a dropped blast ball; (2) it was a nearby officer -- not the one with butterfingers -- that was injured as a result of the blast ball's explosion; (3) no one's pants caught on fire, though credit for a creative literary image; and (4) the injured officer may have suffered mostly an abrasion injury, due directly and solely to the blast ball, and not so much a burn from the resulting fire (based on SPD internal descriptions of the officers injury). An investigative journalist should follow through on this last question, as it would help the public understand both the dangers of blast balls and the extent to which the SPD is willing to cover this up.

"Video taken by Levine appears to show the blast ball thrown from a line of police and detonating just inches away from his feet."
I have offered, on at least three ocassions, to show Sydney the video and corroborating evidence concerning the fact that it was SPD Officer Ian Stuart who threw the blast ball that severly injured Sam Levine. The officer who threw the blast ball biked right past Levine seconds later, and claimed in his Use of Force report that no one was injured by his blast ball.

"OPA interviewed officers who said they threw the blast balls, but said they couldn't determine who threw the one that "caused concern for the complainants.""
We know who threw the blast ball. The failure of the Office of Professional (now Police) Accountability to do a minimally serious investigation bodes poorly for the future of police accountability in Seattle.

After the "laying off" of Dominic and Ansel, Stranger reporters appear to be quite warry of questioning police pratices and action in any consequential way.
7
Yea, misspelled: occassions, severely, wary, & practices.
On some browsers misspellings are not highlighted.
9
"The concern, he wrote, wasn't that SPD didn't have the right blast ball training, but about what happens when training or procedure wasn't followed."

What happens, of course, is the same as what happens any time cops unjustifiably hurt, maim, or kill: nothing.
10
@8 oh yes, an independent blogger covering an annual protest is clearly giving police officers reasons to throw explosives at him. This is America, where police are cowards and the citizenry must be subservient and compliant.
13
Jackkay, what's your daily quota for bootlicking? Just curious.
14
Starting at 4m24s into this training video published in 2011, Chris Meyer of Seattle Police Department states, "you don’t throw [Blast Ball Grenades] into the crowd, because that will cause mayhem & confusion."

Yet SPD staff do just that, year after year. I have witnessed it first-hand multiple times.
15
video: Seattle Police Department staff lob Blast Ball stun grenades after fleeing crowd of May Day demonstrators and hit reporter Casey Jaywork (2016): youtu.be/fAi-rfOMS4Q
16
video: Videographer Sam Levine hit in the face by shrapnel from a stun grenade lobbed recklessly into the crowd by SPD staff on the same day in 2016: twitter.com/samlevine/status/72723661996…
17
video: "Seattle May Day 2015: Dancing With Flash Bangs" - SPD officers lob explosives at a compliant crowd: youtu.be/WT5sj9ipvis
18
Regarding the explosion of a Blast Ball stun grenade near a woman and her baby on May 1, 2013, Assistant Chief of SPD's Special Operations Bureau Paul McDonagh said, "It's unfortunate that someone brought a child to that event."
20
It's unfortunate that someone brought her property-destroying infant to a protest.
21
We all know this is a cluster fuck waiting to happen why wouldn't you want to avoid downtown after about 3 pm today?
22
Jacky @3 Whytf is that my job?
25

@23 ludicrous. absolute insanity. Cops ARE treated differently, in that they are not held accountable for their actions. If you, a presumably private citizen, fire into a crowd (maybe even with the approval of your employer!), are you no longer accountable? Cops aren't.


Please wait...

and remember to be decent to everyone
all of the time.

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