Comments

1

Did that white man with a gun just breech the barricade and float into the loving arms of his brethren?

3

Of course the white man with a gun behaves like a thug and his ass is still alive.

4

Man, the police have changed for the better if they let a black man shoot somebody and then approach them carrying the gun to be apprehended without violence.

... oh, black car.

5

This looks shady as fuck.

7

Daniel's 'Pike or Pine' is comic gold. I miss Almost Live.

8

@6:

How does it feel to be human garbage? Does it make your tiny peen go hard?

11

LoL.

Drives straight into the middle of a protest that's been going on for nine days, passes dozens of police officers standing in the road, comes to a halt in the middle of the street a dozen yards from a barricade, gets out and runs away from the many, many police and into the crowd of protesters, shoots a protester...

"Self Defense! Self Defense!"

14

What's the easiest way for SPD to restore some goodwill in the community? Have an undercover cop take down an active shooter who is threatening innocent protestors.

If someone were to pretend to be an active shooter, how could they attract enough attention without actually hurting anyone? Drive a car violently (but carefully) into the intersection and get out with a handgun (!) and an extra magazine.

What happens if the plan gets screwed up? Just retreat back to the barricade and pretend to get arrested (it'll happen around the corner).

This whole thing reminds me of a 6th grade play.

17

@15 is absolutely right. We've gone from trolling to endorsing murder. Enough bullshit.

18

@14 Yes, it definitely looks suspicious, and the police are certainly capable of manufacturing such an incident. Now, a good investigative reporter needs to dig: precisely who is the shooter, and what is in his past? What might he owe the police and, or might he have connections to an intelligence agency? But, if this is police-sponsored, investigation without explicit government support could get dangerous. Reporters have been killed for less. No question, though: this looks suspicious. I'll be curious to see how this unfolds--if it is allowed to. And this raises a much larger, thornier question: have agents provocateurs been working for the police throughout the past ten or so days of the protests? Was the looting and destruction of two Saturdays ago the work of police manipulators, Antifa, other activists, white supremacists, or someone else entirely? Details get lost in shadows, on margins, in dishonest mouths, of which Seattle has no shortage. Someone who gets to the bottom of it all deserves a Pulitzer AND a Nobel.

19

Curious. Dude waving a gun in the middle of street, shooting it at someone even. Like a hundred cops all around. Yet not full of holes. How could this be?

20

Yes, yes, it's definitely a conspiracy that permeates all levels of our government, I saw a facebook story that proves Soros is behind this, using 5G.

Or it could be that some guy took a wrong turn. It'd be strange of course, but it has happened before.

BTW, the other major Seattle newspaper has a clearer picture of the guy, he really doesn't look white.

21

@20 Obviously, it could be a legitimate case of a guy who got lost or was just fed up and snapped. And no one is suggesting Soros is involved. But... it could, quite possibly, be a manipulation, and the SPD might have played a role in it. So why not investigate? And, I agree with #14. It does look and feel suspicious. It's easy to fall back the "you're-a-conspiracy-theorist-nut" trope--but something about this does look and feel stage-managed. Was it? Maybe, maybe not. But it is worth looking into--and thank you #14 for raising this. You're not paranoid. Some conspiracy theories are garbage--and some are not.

23

@21, I guess we should just agree to disagree about what's behind this incident. Maybe you're too suspicious, maybe I'm just gullible. It really doesn't matter and we'll probably never know.

25

Can we ever hope the Stranger will just copy/paste the original text and embed the video in their reports, rather than just placing a link to the awfulness that is Twitter? I don't often visit Twitter, but followed the link there to see the footage. My eyes passed over the comments in order to understand the context, and were stung. Gads, what a cesspool. Makes the trolls on Slog look like Dennis the Menace. "People" there are quacking, predictably, about the driver acting in self-defense, of all things.

Sure. Good people on both sides, both sides, amirite?

The driver/shooter was the aggressor; accelerating down the middle of a long-term, highly reported, ongoing protest area. The crowd, informed by the Charlottesville attack, acted in self-defence by swarming his car to try and stop him. And —voila!— he not only shoots a man, but emerges with a gun that has been prepared for a major attack (unholsterable and equipped with extra rounds). Certainly this was planned and premeditated, which extinguishes the "shooting in self-defense" argument.

26

@23 Thanks, Mike, for your input. I'm in learning/absorbing mode about this, and I don't want to make too many judgments or jump to too many conclusions. On the one hand, this could simply have been a guy whose car was surrounded, and he snapped. Absolutely this could have been totally unplanned. That said, the SPD has some informants dress down as the homeless, police women dress down as prostitutes, and all kinds of folks spying and entrapping folks in various stings. Stuff happens in this city that we aren't taught in seventh grade. Indeed, on rare occasion genuinely suspicious cases emerge and get discussed in the media (e.g., Chief George Tielsch in the early '70s ordering Seattle-area intellectuals spied on; decorated SPD patrolman Jon Mattox suffered severe harassment for years and committed suicide, 1990). But it's rare and is typically met with official silence or scoffing denial. So... we'll just have to see. And thanks again for your input.

28

The irony is thick as the honeysuckle smell in the morning dew along the Seine when Madame DeFarge reprimands someone for endorsing murder given her penchant for subtle to not-so-subtle tantalizations of violence in her prose.

Instead, let's be magnanimous for a change and recognize that we're all getting a little hot under the collar and wait for more facts to come in.

32

It's Colonel Mustard in the sedan with the handgun.

33

He had more ammo taped to his gun. That's an extremely normal thing a person not looking for confrontation would do.

34

Hahahaha you "RWNJs" are fucking funny. Even on a "normal" day you don't drive like that. Many of us know those streets well and you drive hunting and pecking around for where to go. It was done in the least with full animosity. Blame it on GPS? Yeah, no. He meant to do that for some reason or another and I suspect those who are defending this are brothers in arms and all should have their licenses to drive surrendered and/or update your GPS app should this stunt have caused it. No fucking accident. Once shit hopefully calms down take that route on your own just to prove you are idiots.

36

@35: Jackson Pollock is to art, as The Stranger is to journalism.

37

Good christ, @35 you probably shouldn't know this but they reported what there was to report because they are across the goddamn street. I don't obviously know what staff was on premises but you would have been able to see it from the window. They are a media outlet that couldn't be more close to what was witnessed.

38

@35:

Your armchair quarterbacking "analysis" of raw video footage done from the comfort of your own home neglects to take into account one vitally important aspect: you weren't there. You have no idea what transpired only a minute or so of images that can only be adequately contextualized from the ground as it happened.

Here are a few questions you might want to consider in that regard: 1. Why did the driver turn onto 11th in the first place? 2. Did any of the protesters or volunteers at the south end of the block attempt to warn them off? 3. How may the driver have responded to any warnings, if given? 4. If warnings were given and the driver continued up the street regardless, could that have prompted people to attempt to stop him? 5. Why would an "innocent driver" have a fully-loaded handgun WITH A SECOND EXTENDED CLIP MAGAZINE at-the-ready in such a situation? 6. Imagine you were an SPD or NG uni stationed at that location and an armed man approached in the middle of a days-long protest where the police have accused protesters of acts of violence: was the response seen on-camera consistent with the driver's actions and the situational environment at the time?

Those seem to me like rather important questions to have answered before making assumptions about the motive or intent of any of the people involved, would you agree?

41

It looks like comte is correct about that extended clip. It is quite noticeable at 0:13 in Chase's video.

43

@40,

You're a freaking nutjob. Nothing the Stranger reported here is factually inaccurate based on the embedded videos, your spin notwithstanding. The only, I guess, valid "point" you have is that context from the George Floyd video, and what transpired leading up to it, is missing.

How in freaking hell that's relevant to anything here is anybody's guess.

44

Nothing about this guy's behavior adds up. Why is he driving into the crowd, with a gun and extra magazine? Why does he point the gun around at the crowd? Why does he keep trying to put on his hood?

He is having a panic reaction after the gunshot, and in his panic he makes a split decision to return to safety with his colleagues.

46

Context, go look up "context". Context travels far beyond what was currently "embedded" or captured. It has been said upthread that what was he doing driving down 11th in the first place? Was he looking for a friend's apartment or a closed restaurant to meet up with some friends he had a dinner engagement with? Not remotely saying he was a cop plant at all. He clearly meant to do harm. Good that he didn't do what he possibly wanted to do.

48

Bullshit @47. Do you even remotely know this street in normal times? If so, explain how it is possible to drive yourself into a crowd with a gun at the ready. How many other times has this licensed driver done this before because he is obviously losing his driving acumen and should have been flagged on his last test? Bullshit. This was done out of hatred and that is all.

49

All you self-defense gurus arguing that the protestor's punching justified the shooting, you might want to re-read the law of self-defense:

"[Self-defense] is unavailable to a defendant who is the aggressor in the sense that his actions precipitated or provoked the altercation which necessitated his use of force." State v. Davis, 64 Wn. App. 511 (1992), rev'd on other grounds, 121 Wn.2d 1 (1993).

If you drive unlawfully into a crowd, and the crowd attacks your car, and someone starts punching you, and you shoot the guy punching you, you are not engaged in self-defense. This shooter is going to jail, and the self-defense gurus on here need to read up on the law if they don't want to follow him there.

50

This may have been mentioned, but on looking at some of the recordings of this incident, did anyone notice the lights flashing on the grill when the car hit the barrier? My first thought was that this is an unmarked police vehicle. And the fact that this ARMED black man was able to approach a group of cops holding a weapon, seems suspicious at best.

51

On a hunch, I went and checked to see if fax2support's page was still active. Context seems to possess an eerily similar obsessive compulsion to discredit The Stranger based on some piece of minutiae in their writing/reporting. In this case, I'm predicting a highly detailed analysis and breakdown of what constitutes "crashing into" as opposed to gradually pulling up against a barricade to make his case. How much time and effort we see him sink into his efforts should be fascinating.

Alas, fax is still active and so my theory is bunk.

54

Seems there are a number of men using this driving into protesters action.

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-memphis-tennessee-man-accused-of-driving-through-crowd-protesters-20200608-urij66eofrhtfgyi77h2lbym5a-story.html

55

@52: Not sure what other facts and videos you're waiting for, unless you're expecting a video showing a street sign that says, "Street open, no protest in progress, all vehicles may proceed."

I'm with your critics on this one. The Stranger's reporting of this incident is accurate, and you seem like a troll. I hope the latter turns out to be untrue.

57

@51,

Fair enough, I was being snide. That said, I'm not really even sure what it is you're asserting. You make mention of The Stranger's not acknowledging that the victim was attacking the gunman's car. I mean, I think it's obvious he was. And why wouldn't he be if the gunman were deemed to be a threat, which he quite obviously was.

Then there's the semantic debate about whether the speed of the car constitutes use of the term "crashing," or whether the gunman brought it to a stop. I guess you may have a point there, though it's pretty tenuous and subjective at best.

Next, you seem to be taking issue with whether or not the shooting was caught on video and The Stranger's use of the term "appeared." He very much appeared to shoot the guy! A gunshot was heard emanating from the car, the victim dropped, and the gunman exited from that car carrying a gun! Seems pretty cut & dry to me.

Then lastly you complain that they neglected "to report the video showing the man turning himself and his gun into SPD..." though the second to last video is just that. Not sure if I'm misreading or somehow otherwise not getting your point there.

So, again, my apologies for being a smartass earlier, but you've not come particularly close to making a compelling case for negligent reporting here.

58

@56:

Well, that would give The Stranger TWO Pulitzers, so sure why not?

59

"The Stranger deserves a Pulitzer Prize for accurate, unbiased reporting."

They deserve no such thing, idiot. They also don't deserve criticism for inaccurate, biased reporting here (and absolutely noone with a functioning brain denies the bias in their reporting in general. They're very up front about their agenda and ideology. Though again, this post doesn't discredit them.)

60

Context, you're a fucking idiot. All The Stranger does is report on local Seattle things and always has. Jesus, bro hang up your troll cap. You are not making a point. How is it so hard to be self-aware? You are aware and that really kinda makes you a troll whether you like it or not. I give it a 100% chance there was Stranger personnel or their "unpaid interns" they used to have very close to the occasion we are currently discussing.

62

Man who drove his pickup into Virginia protest crowd turns out to be active KKK member
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/8/1951516/-Virginia-Klansman-may-face-hate-crime-charges-after-driving-his-pickup-into-protesters-on-road


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