[WBHG News 24 – Seattle] – After a January 23 report from the Seattle Office of Police Accountability concluded Officer Daniel Auderer violated SPD’s professionalism and bias-based policing policies while discussing the death of Jaahnavi Kandula, including saying she had “limited value,” SPD leadership has recommended harsh discipline, up to termination.
On the night of January 23, 2023, Officer Kevin Dave was responding to a drug overdose call when he struck 23-year-old college student Jaahnavi Kandula in a marked crosswalk while driving 63 MPH, mortally wounding her. Dave stopped briefly, radioed he hit a pedestrian, and then continued to the cocaine overdose call.
Auderer, a drug recognition officer and vice-president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, was deployed to evaluate Dave for potential impairment. After conducting his investigation, a two-minute phone conversation with SPOG President Mike Solan was accidentally recorded on Auderer’s bodycam. A whistleblower within SPD found the video and reported it to his chain of command. The video was released to the public on September 11, 2023, sparking international outrage.
The recording only captured Auderer’s side of the conversation. After telling Solan, “She is dead,” he guffawed, then continued to mock Kandula, saying, “She had limited value,” and the city should “Just write a check – $11,000.”
One year to the day after the accident, OPA recommended sustaining the findings that Auderer “violated SPD’s professionalism and bias-based policing policies by laughing about Kandula’s death, describing her as having “limited value,” and making other disparaging remarks.”
OPA Director Gino Betts Jr. called the officer’s words “derogatory, disturbing, and inhumane.”
According to the Seattle Times, a Seattle Police Department Disciplinary Action Report has recommended punishment ranging from a 30-day suspension without pay up to termination. In a commanders’ disciplinary memo sent to Auderer, SPD leadership wrote, “Even crediting your explanation as true, that does not excuse the callousness of your comments.”
Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz will meet with Auderer on March 4, where he will be given a final opportunity to explain his conduct.
Kandula was a graduate student from India studying for her master’s degree at Northeastern University’s Seattle campus. Two days after the video release, the Indian Consulate in San Francisco called the video “troubling,” writing on Twitter (also known as X), “Recent reports including in media of the handling of Ms Jaahnavi Kandula’s death in a road accident in Seattle in January are deeply troubling. We have taken up the matter strongly with local authorities in Seattle & Washington State as well as senior officials in Washington DC.”
Recent reports including in media of the handling of Ms Jaahnavi Kandula’s death in a road accident in Seattle in January are deeply troubling. We have taken up the matter strongly with local authorities in Seattle & Washington State as well as senior officials in Washington DC
The U.S. State Department also issued a statement, calling the incident “disturbing.”
At the time of the accident, Dave was driving through a construction zone at 74 MPH with no siren. Kandula attempted to run but had less than one second to react, and an investigation found that Dave had slowed to 63 MPH at the moment of impact. A report released in June 2023 concluded, “Had Ofc. Dave been travelling [sic] 50 MPH or less as he approached the intersection and encountered [sic] and Ofc. DAVE and responded in the same manner; this collision would not have occurred.”
In August, when Auderer learned about the bodycam video, he asked OPA Director Betts Jr. for rapid adjudication. The optional disciplinary review enables a police officer to admit to minor to moderate policy violations and accept “reasonable discipline” without appeal, bypassing a formal OPA investigation. Betts Jr. denied the request, which SPOG decried.
With public outrage growing and a September 21 appeal by Seattle’s Community Police Commission to suspend Auderer indefinitely without pay, SPD administratively re-assigned him to desk duty.
Other statements made by Auderer have raised additional questions about the integrity of SPD’s accident investigation. In the same phone conversation with Solan, he said that Dave was driving no more than 50 MPH, and Kandula was thrown less than 50 feet. A secondary investigation found she was thrown 138 feet. The King County Prosecuting Attorney is considering criminal charges for Dave and has hired an outside consultant to conduct an independent investigation. An announcement is expected in the coming weeks.
Auderer is a 14-year veteran with SPD and no stranger to professional conduct investigations. Since May 2014, he’s been investigated 30 times by the OPA, referred to supervisory reprimand or guidance 11 times, and had allegations of unprofessional conduct sustained three times. His prior actions have cost the City almost $2 million in settlement payments.
SPOG has maintained its defense of its vice president, repeatedly stating that Auderer and Solan were engaged in “gallows humor” and declared, “The video captures only one side of the conversation. There is much more detail and nuance that has not been made public yet… SPOG has full confidence that the civilian led [sic] police accountability system known as the Office of Police Accountability / OPA will conduct a thorough and fair investigation.”
During the civilian-led investigation, Solan was called as the only witness. He has since accused the OPA of “union discrimination,” “intimidation,” and conducting a “fishing expedition” after being asked to meet with investigators for a second time to clarify his earlier testimony.
In his first statement to OPA on September 12, Solan told investigators, “It’s how police are,” adding, “Sometimes officers use sarcasm and humor to overcome emotional hurdles, which can be very burdensome.”
Solan claimed that he only agreed to meet with the OPA a second time after being warned he could face dismissal.
Kandula’s family, who lives in India, has not filed a lawsuit against the city. Northeastern University announced they would issue an honorary master’s degree later this week.
Knowledge is the best tool to fight against fear. A wise person chooses to be informed so they can make sound decisions. To join the fight against COVID misinformation, you can share this update through your social media platform of choice.
[KING COUNTY, Wash.] – (MTN) Worsening problems with data from the Washington State Department of Health is hobbling efforts to understand the current situation and forecast the future. In counties where 40% or more of the total population is vaccinated, the number of cases per 100,000 people is down. Hospitalizations are up among people under 35 and have declined for individuals over 49. There is very little else that can be said with certainty.
Confirmed COVID cases between students and faculty at Bothell High School in the Northshore School District have grown to 12, with 100 more in quarantine. School officials in Eatonville moved its middle school to remote learning at least until mid-October due to an unspecified number of cases.
If you qualify for a Pfizer booster shot, we checked area pharmacies and grocery stores – they’re available now.
The Washington Department of Health data and reporting problems, which started in August and has only gotten worse, have become problematic. The new Modeling and Surveillance Situation Report, released by the DoH today, expressed uncertainty in the ongoing COVID situation because critical data is missing. Choose your path wisely over the next two months based on what is in the report. The first option makes for a harsh winter while the second path forecasts a sixth wave.
The City of Seattle has reached an agreement with three more unions today over modifications to the vaccine mandate. The Seattle Fire Department agreed to the compromise plan and incentives. The Seattle Police Officer Guild was absent from the negotiations.
Anti-vaccination advocates are becoming more desperate and violent. Hospital workers were threatened and attacked in multiple states this week, and the anti-vaccination group Waking Up Washington has resorted to telling their followers not to go to hospitals. The same group is planning an anti-vaccination “town hall meeting” at a Woodinville restaurant tomorrow. If you’re planning to attend, be sure to bring $20 cash and be ready to pay at the door.
Idaho and Alaska are still operating under “crisis standards of care,” and Alaska, in particular, is getting much worse. If you want to feel your blood pressure rise and have veins bulging out of your neck, please, read the Idaho section. We recommend not having anything breakable nearby. In Helena, Montana, where the city’s hospital is operating under crisis standards of care, state legislatures debated whether things are really that bad.
The situation in the Pacific Northwest is so deranged reporting Oregon has 60 available ICU beds statewide is now considered good news.
Data continues to show improvement across Washington, particularly in most of the highly vaccinated counties. In the South Central Hospital Region, which includes Benton, Franklin, Klickitat, Walla Walla, and Yakima counties, the 14 day moving average for new cases is 803.4 per 100K, statistically unchanged from yesterday. The Central Hospital Region, which represents King County, is 258.7, a slight drop from yesterday.
Percent of Total Population Fully Vaccinated
Average 14-Day New Case Rate (unadjusted)
50.00% or above (13 counties)
464.5 (down)
40.00% to 49.99% (17 counties)
683.3 (down)
28.10% to 39.99% (9 counties)
755.8
14-Day New COVID Cases per 100K average by Vaccination Rate, Not Adjusted for Population
Through September 23, Washington’s statewide 14-day rolling average is 446.4 COVID cases per 100K – the change is “statistically insignificant,” but it’s worth noting the margin was 0.4 cases!. Counties in the 1,000.0 to 1,399.9 range include Lincoln (1,257.9), Franklin (1.127.5) and Stevens (1,115.0). Counties in the 800.0 to 999.9 per 100K range include Adams, Benton, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, Okanogan, and Pend Oreille.
New cases by age group are statistically unchanged. Hospitalizations were up for people under 35 years old and down for individuals over 49 years old.
Age Group
7-Day Case Rate
7-Day Hospitalization Rate
Ages 0-11
193.4
1.3
Ages 12-19
201.4
1.5 (up)
Ages 20-34
193.4
5.0 (up)
Ages 35-49
196.8
9.9
Ages 50-64
135.4
14.7 (down)
Ages 65-79
97.6
21.7 (down)
Ages 80+
94.9
33.3 (down)
7-day case rate and 7-day hospitalization rate is per 100K within the age group – the target for 7-day case rate is <25.0, but there are other factors such as vaccination rates within the age groups, how many total tests within the 7-day period, and the positivity rate within each age group
The USA Today COVID Tracker has not been updated since yesterday. The state of Washington is not reporting the percentage of positive cases.
COVID reports from the Washington Department of Health providing fewer details
As Washington state entered what local officials called the fifth wave, the state provided fewer details on the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard. Between August 30 and September 24, the state removed or has delayed granular information, including:
Total number of staffed adult acute care beds available
Total number of adult acute care beds occupied
Total number of staffed adult ICU care beds available
Total number of adult ICU beds occupied
Staffed acute care and ICU beds available by Hospital Region
Number of COVID patients in acute care and the ICU by Hospital Region
Percentage of positive COVID cases detected by daily testing by county and state – accurate data hasn’t been available since August 27, and all data stopped updating last week – there will be no reporting until November 1
Some metrics, particularly hospital occupancy, number of people in the ICU, and number of people on ventilators, have gone through multiple revisions. When these issues have occurred in other states, they became the subject of national attention.
Suppose you compare the quality and quantity of data from the DoH to other states such as South Carolina. In that case, it exposes a breakdown in the region’s ability to gather and analyze COVID information.
South Carolina reported 2,602 confirmed new cases and another 889 probable cases today. The state had 111 confirmed COVID-related deaths and another 11 probable fatalities under investigation. The state processed 36,766 PCR tests, and 9.4% were positive. Currently, 8,511 acute care beds are being utilized, 86.4% of staffed beds in the state. Of those patients, 2,196 have COVID, with 533 in the ICU and 369 on ventilators. There was 223 hospital admission for COVID patients, and 28 hospitals in the South Carolina are experiencing staffing shortages.
We were able to write that in five minutes. The analysis in the first section of the state update took over half an hour and required processing raw data in Excel.
Last year, Washington state moved quickly to create detailed reports during the start of the pandemic. The state was the first to have a confirmed COVID case, a confirmed COVID death, and the first super spreader event. EvergreenHealth in Kirkland and the Kirkland Fire Department literally wrote the books for hospital COVID response, initial case management, and EMS response to potential COVID cases.
The lack of data, while Washington is in the worst COVID surge to date, is glaring, considering these tools were once available. We once led the nation in the capacity to process PCR tests and report the data. It erodes public trust when the number of skeptics is declining, and the remaining are increasingly radicalized. Doctors and nurses in the United States are being assaulted, stalked, and getting death threats. Anti-vaccination organizations are now advocating for people not to go to hospitals and, in a few cases, have attempted to remove people, including ICU patients, on BIPAP and ventilators.
Finally, current reporting does not track pediatric hospitalizations or pediatric acute care, NICU, or PICU resources despite weeks of promises that information would be shared.
We are disappointed that other larger media organizations are not highlighting these issues, especially when you consider the number of headlines generated by the actions of Florida, Georgia, Iowa, and Nebraska.
Department of Health issues updated modeling and surveillance situation report
Testing shortages create uncertainty in how many active cases are missed as hospital admissions spiked to a level 60% higher than the peak in January 2021. At the end of August, the statewide R0, the rate of transmission, dropped below 1.0. It has since increased to 1.3 and was showing an exponential growth curve. The report estimates that 1 in 106 Washingtonians are experiencing an active COVID case, the highest rate recorded since August 2020.
Statewide immunity to COVID is estimated at just over 60%, with 1 in 5 having some degree of natural immunity. With 40% of the entire population exposed, the Delta variant has a significant number of new hosts it can infect. Unvaccinated residents are ninefold more likely to be hospitalized than unvaccinated.
The state has two forecasted models. The first is based on the R0 at 0.9, which would support a declining number of new cases. Under that model, daily hospital admissions for COVID would return to levels seen outside of surges, less than 40 people a day statewide.
The second model assumes R0 doubles to 1.8 due to the Thanksgiving holiday and the state population becoming fatigued with mask wear. If this scenario becomes a reality, December daily hospital admissions will increase to 141 to 240 per day by the end of the year.
Eatonville Middle School moves to virtual learning due to COVID outbreak
Officials in Eatonville announced that Eatonville Middle School was moving to remote learning through October 11 at the minimum. The district didn’t release any specific information on the number of infected students, staff, or if there is significant transmission within the school.
Located between Olympia and Mount Rainier in Pierce County, the town had 3,000 residents. According to the DoH, only 47.9% of county residents are fully vaccinated.
Letter to parents announcing Eatonville Middle School is moving to remote learning
Seattle reaches agreement with major public employee unions over vaccination mandates
“Since the pandemic touched down in Seattle, our officers, firefighters, and frontline workers have worked day in and day out to provide nation-leading testing, vaccination, and relief programs for our residents. Those efforts are a key reason we have one of the highest vaccination rates and lowest cases and hospitalizations of every major American city,” said Mayor Durkan.
The agreement is expected to be ratified, provides 8 hours of paid time off for any employee who submits a vaccination form by October 5 and is fully vaccinated by October 18. Employees can begin the vaccination process by October 18 and not face termination. They will have to use their available accrued time off while going through the vaccination process, which can last from two to six weeks. Finally, each employee will receive 40 hours of supplementary paid leave for COVID-related reasons. Employees who are fully vaccinated by October 18 will receive an additional 40 hours of supplemental leave for a total of 80 hours.
“Worker safety and certainty are of paramount importance, and the unions involved with these negotiations centered those concerns throughout a complex and time-sensitive process,” said Shaun Van Eyk, PROTEC17 Union Representative and Coalition of City Unions Co-Chair. “We believe that these two tentative agreements honor the essential, public-sector workers whose work could not be performed remotely and create clear, transparent, and equitable pathways for all City workers with respect to the vaccine mandate. While both agreements took a great deal of time and effort to reach, the outcome is unquestionably worth it for the health and safety of our union members, their families, and our communities.”
We have reached a tentative agreement with nearly all unions to support employee vaccinations with incentives, frontline worker pay, & flexibility for telework until Jan 2022. These policies will protect the health of our workforce & communities we serve. https://t.co/s5T0s4sUvH
The city has now reached vaccination agreements with six labor unions. The Seattle Police Officer Guild, SPOG, was not part of the agreement. The city indicated they were still negotiating with police union leaders.
Almost 90 local, county, and state employees sued Washington state to try and block vaccine mandates earlier this month. One of the plaintiffs claimed up to 150 City of Seattle firefighters were ready to resign. In August, SPOG Union President Mike Solan said up to 200 officers were prepared to quit.
Anti-vaccination activist groups calling for the sick to “avoid hospitals”
As part of a national trend, the activist group Waking Up Washington is telling its followers to “avoid hospitals” because “they’ve fired many of their free thinkers.”
Ms. Davis is a central figure in the Washington state anti-vaccination movement, which has seen its numbers dwindle since the summer months. She told her followers to go to another website for medical treatment plans. The site includes access to an online doctor for prescriptions of medications, with a $149 fee for a consultation for Ivermectin. According to WebMDRx, 10 pills cost between $23 and $56.
The site also links to the discredit organization America’s Frontline Doctors and the FLCCC. We have elected not to link to that website as it provides dangerous medical advice.
Suggested treatments include hydrogen peroxide nebulization and taking dandelion, pine needle, and eucalyptus supplements. Neublizing hydrogen peroxide can be fatal, and none of these supplements have any therapeutic value. The website DNS is provided by Google, according to a whois search.
Anti-vaccination “town hall meeting” in Woodinville tomorrow at local restaurant
Tomorrow, the same group is holding a “town hall meeting” at Rooster’s Bakery and Cafe in Woodinville. The event touts legal resources to fight vaccine mandates and “expert testimony” about “rigged statistics.”
To attend, you are required to pay a $20 fee in cash at the door.
Editor’s comment: Nothing suspicious about that.
Anti-vaccination event flyer for Woodinville tomorrow
We recommend avoiding all travel to Spokane, Yakima, Klickitat, Benton, Franklin, and Walla Walla counties, along with Alaska, Idaho, and Montana. Hospital resources in these regions are constrained, and you may receive inadequate care if you experience a medical emergency.
Thank you
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Vaccination
No update
King County, Washington is reporting over 85% of age eligible residents are vaccinated with at least one dose. The highest rates of positivity are in areas with low vaccination rates statewide. The FDA has provided full approval of the Pfizer vaccine for anyone 16 and over.
COVID vaccines are free for anyone over 12 years old, and no appointment is necessary at most locations. Lyft and Hopelink provide free transportation, and KinderCare, the Learning Care Group, and the YMCA offer free childcare during vaccination appointments or recuperation.
According to the DoH COVID Dashboard, 22.0% of all acute care patients hospitalized in Washington have COVID. A hospital system caring for this many COVID-positive patients in acute care is considered to be under “severe stress.” ICUs are at 89.5% of capacity statewide, with 33.9% of ICU patients fighting COVID. There has been a slow decline for all data points over the last week.
The 7-day rolling average hospital admission rate for new COVID patients was unavailable today. The Department of Health reported 1,436 COVID patients statewide on September 23 and 233 on ventilators. We aren’t confident that these numbers are accurate. Hospital occupancy rates don’t support this much of a decline, and the state dashboard noted, “The “hospital admission rate” metric on the Healthcare System Readiness tab was not updated today due to an interruption in our data systems.”
Harborview Medical Center is only at 113% capacity, which is an improvement from last week when the Level I trauma center was at 117% capacity.
Chelsey Roos, a registered nurse who works at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tacoma, spoke with KCPQ.
“You get into your car after work, and you just want to cry.”
“Not only do we have roughly 50% more cases than we had during the December surge, but we’re caring for all of those patients with fewer staff, because it’s been so challenging for particularly our nurses, that people are choosing to leave healthcare because of how stressful it’s been,” says Dr. Steven Mitchell, the medical director of Harborview Medical Center’s Emergency Room.
It’s a perfect storm, the stress of the job causing many to leave-which then leaves the remaining nurses with an even heavier workload.
“It burns people out, its burning people out so easily, we can’t seem to keep enough nurses working or wanting to work in acute care or a hospital, it’s just becoming too much, and I think people are wanting to reprioritize things in their lives,” says Roos.
“I don’t know what my daily census is today, but this is really the first time in the COVID surge this last week where we’ve seen an increase in children that have been admitted for the care of COVID.”
– Bellevue (1) – Big Picture (1) – Chinook (1) – Eastgate (1) – Enatai (36) – Interlake (2) – Lake Hills (13) – Puesta del Sol (2) – Wilburton (3)
None
Lake Washington
YELLOW
– Alcott Elementary (2*) – Ella Baker Elementary (3*) – Community School Elementary (7) – Dickinson Elementary (2*) – Eastlake High (1*) – Einstein Elementary (1*) – Evergreen Middle School (1*) – Finn Hill Middle School (1*) – Benjamin Franklin Elementary (2*) – Robert Frost Elementary (9) – Inglewood Middle School (3*) – Juanita Elementary (2*) – Juanita High School (1*) – Kamiakin Middle School (4* – see below) – Helen Keller Elementary (1*) – Peter Kirk Elementary (2*) – Kirkland Middle School (1*) – Lake Washington High (1*) – Lakeview Elementary (1*) – Muir Elementary (1*) – Redmond Elementary (2*) – Redmond Middle School (1*) – Redmond High School (1*) – Rose Hill Elementary (1*) – Rose Hill/Stella Schola Middle School (2*) – Thoreau Elementary (4) – Mark Twain Elementary (3*)
Northshore
RED
– Arrowhead Elementary (13) – Canyon Creek Elementary (24) – Canyon Park Middle School (8) – Cottage Lake Elementary (16) – Crystal Springs Elementary (47**) – East Ridge Elementary (24) – Fernwood Elementary (13**) – Frank Love Elementary (28) – Hollywood Hills Elementary (17) – Inglemoor High School (7) – Innovation Lab High School (9) – Kenmore Elementary (15) – Kenmore Middle School (39**) – Kokanee Elementary (50) – Leota Middle School (5) – Lockwood Elementary (8) – Maywood Hills Elementary (14**) – North Creek High School (21**) – Northshore Middle School (10**) – Ruby Bridges Elementary (7) – Secondary Academy for Success (10) – Shelton View Elementary (18**) – Skyview Middle School (82**) – Sunrise Elementary (21) – Timbercrest Middle School (28) – Wellington Elementary (64) – Westhill Elementary (10) – Woodin Elementary (9) – Woodinville High School (21) – Woodmoor Elementary (21**)
– Bothell High School (12*/100)
Local Districts Scorecard – * indicates positive cases only ** indicates 5 or more confirmed positive cases
We redefined the school district statuses. Information for classroom and building closures has been a challenge to obtain, both for closures and reopening. We are adopting moving any school with more than 10 active COVID cases reported into the red, and we’ve adjusted the third column to reflect this change.
We had a parent-reported confirmed COVID case at Kamiakin Middle School on Tuesday. Because the Lake Washington School District updates its dashboard weekly, we don’t know if this is in addition to the 3 cases reported on Monday or if any of those earlier cases have returned to class. We have set the number to 4.
The number of positive cases between staff and students has swelled to 12 at Bothell High School, with another 100 students quarantined. The NECS reports the school has 1,607 students, and the Northshore School District website reports 236 faculty. Although the numbers in the district may appear to be bad, they are the only school district of the three we are following that is performing weekly universal COVID testing.
We recommend that parents in the Bellevue and Lake Washington School District request better transparency on their publicly facing COVID dashboards.
Kirkland-Bellevue-Woodinville
Booster shots for eligible individuals are now available in the Kirland-Bellevue-Woodinville area. Individuals who received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine more than 6 months ago, are 65 or older, or are immunocompromised can receive their third dose immediately.
We canvased area drug and grocery stores to check for availability. Walgreens, Rite-Aid, Bartell’s, and CV are all offering booster shots immediately. Booster shots are also available at the CVS located within the Target store at 17,700 NE 76th Street in Redmond. Additionally, the QFC at Kirkland Urban is providing booster shots.
Most locations require an appointment that can be set up online. The Kirkland Urban QFC was already completely booked through the weekend.
National Round-Up
Johns Hopkins University Cumulative Case Tracker is reporting 128,731 new cases and 3,157 deaths nationwide.
Alaska
Alaska continues to operate in crisis standards of care as the situation in the vast and remote state continues to deteriorate. Officials reported 1,793 new cases and a staggering 41 deaths (yes, we know the headline says 1800 cases and 44 deaths – if you read the story, it says 1793 cases and 41 deaths, talk amongst yourselves – we’re over it) in the state of just over one million people. The numbers included hundreds of older cases due to a data entry backlog.
The state had a record of 217 COVID patients hospitalized. The statewide 7 day moving average for new COVID cases is a staggering 976 per 100K people, and currently, 9.2% of all COVID tests are coming back positive.
The state now has 20 ICU beds available, an improvement from yesterday, and 74 residents on ventilators.
Soldotna’s Central Peninsula hospital, about 150 miles from Anchorage, is operating at 133% capacity. Richards is worried about what will come next. “We all know that hospitalizations lag following these high-case days, so I don’t know what’s in store for us.”
The goal is to make more room at the busy Anchorage hospitals, which offer more intensive care and other services, especially sick patients that rural hospitals can’t support.
This practice is known as “load leveling,” and it’s done more regularly between hospitals in urban areas, where patients can be moved by ambulance. It’s far rarer in rural Alaska, though, since most hospitals in those areas aren’t connected by road and can be hundreds of miles apart.
“Once you start involving learjets and medevac companies, it gets infinitely more complicated,” Brunner said in an interview Thursday.
Patients that don’t need critical care are flown to acute care hospitals in rural areas. For many rural hospitals, the patients they receive are sicker than they usually see, straining staff. Worse, patients are separated from family and friends and face potential air ambulance bills in the tens of thousands of dollars.
In the 6,000 resident town of Bethel, Alaska, half the police force is threatening to resign over a recent vaccination mandate. The remote city is only accessible by boat or airplane during the warmer months, and ice road in the winter. The city is experiencing one of the highest COVID case rates in the state and country and doesn’t have the resources to deal with the surge. City officials decided to mandate vaccinations.
Resistance to the vaccine from police in Bethel is endemic of opposition the vaccine has seen from police departments across the country. Many officers have refused vaccine mandates, filed unsuccessful lawsuits, and decried the measures as unconstitutional.
But in Bethel, some say police have gone a step further, dangling the possibility of increased violence over remote residents’ heads if the city were to push half of the police force out of a job.
Among other highlights, Police Chief Richard Simmons baldly told KYUK earlier this week that the small city was “one of the most violent communities in the nation” and needed every one of its officers.
Available data shows that Bethell has a high crime rate but not one of the highest in the nation.
Alaska Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink, who also works in a hospital emergency department, said many retail pharmacists have stopped asking customers if they’d like the vaccine because of the fury it triggers.
“We see many triage nurses in the emergency department also afraid to ask that question,” Zink said, “because patients have been violent towards them in the emergency department when asking the question if they’re vaccinated or if they have COVID-19.”
Idaho
Idaho reported 1,646 new COVID cases and 34 new deaths on Friday. The state continues to operate under crisis standards of care. Unlike states such as Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, which use “load leveling” to maximize resources, Idaho hospitals can go it alone.
While people are dying in hospital waiting areas in the Panhandle, hospitals in the eastern part of the state are operating under “contingency care.” Both Oregon and Washington are running on “contingency care protocols,” which give medical providers options to defer certain treatments and take other steps to maximize resources.
While hospitals in the Magic and Treasure valleys and Northern Idaho have added beds in conference rooms, cafeterias, and other available spaces, Herget believes PMC should have adequate traditional bed capacity heading forward.
On Monday, Herget said PMC would open a special care unit with nine rooms equipped with negative pressure technology to treat patients with contagious upper respiratory diseases, such as the coronavirus.
According to ABC News, an advocacy group for older adults has filed a civil rights complaint against Idaho over the state’s “crisis standards of care” guidelines for hospitals overwhelmed by patients amid the coronavirus pandemic.
On Tuesday, the group Justice in Aging asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate Idaho’s health care rationing plan. They contend it discriminates against older adults, especially Black and Native American adults, by using factors like age when prioritizing which patients get access to life-saving care.
“Older adults are facing serious risk of discrimination, resulting in death,” because of Idaho’s crisis standards, Justice for Aging attorneys wrote in their complaint letter. Symptomatic breakthrough cases are overwhelming among people over 70 years old.
The school wrote in a statement on Friday, “In light of our declining campus positivity rates and high vaccination rates, the university will shift from testing all ticket holders in the student section to random sample testing of that population before next week’s football game.”
According to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, the percentage of Idaho’s eligible population (12 and older) fully vaccinated is just 51.5%.
Photo credit – Dr. Ashley Carvalho – photo after being a family member of a patient threatened to shoot her
“I received a slew of verbal abuse from a patient’s family members who called me an incompetent doctor, threatened me with physical violence, and demanded I give them my name and medical license number so they could sue. This was because I refused to prescribe Ivermectin, which is not proven to treat COVID-19 and is recommended only in clinical trials at this point, and hydroxychloroquine, which current research suggests is not effective or safe in treating COVID-19. My patient was struggling to breathe, but the family refused to allow me to provide care. A call to the police was the only solution.”
Several physicians from Kootenai Health were slated to speak during the meeting as the hospital hit two milestones this week: its highest number of COVID-19 inpatients and the highest number of COVID-19 ICU patients at 43. The hospital in Coeur d’Alene typically only has 26 ICU beds.
The group was described as a “mob” of 200 people who were “extremely hostile.”
BREAKING: The meeting has been postponed. Board members were worried about safety, per city fire code.
Editor’s Note: We remind you again, our state is supporting Idaho’s bad choices. In the coming weeks, it is likely at least a couple of the people in this “mob” will be begging the doctors who had planned to speak today to save their lives.
“When there’s that kind of things to compete against, we don’t have a chance,” he said. “We just don’t have employees. We’ve seen from 2 or 3 classified staff, all the way to 60 classified staff, that districts are missing across the state.”
He said three school districts were closed Friday, two due to staffing shortages and one because of COVID-19 cases among students. He said open schools are also struggling with lower than normal attendance.
Montana
Montana reported 1,326 new COVID cases across the state where officials aren’t reporting unvaccinated versus vaccinated cases. The state has 395 people hospitalized with COVID and didn’t share how many are on ventilators.
According to KHN, Billings Clinic said it might soon implement “crisis standards of care” that would force staff to save provisions for patients they can most likely save.
Yellowstone County is seeing the worst of the surge. The Montana Department of Health and Human Services reported 2,461 current active cases there, as much as the next two counties combined.
And in Helena, where a hospital is operating at crisis standards of care, state lawmakers questioned health officials on the severity of the situation.
“I’m not sure I would feel really dismayed about the rate increase when you just think of it really mathematically,” Gillette said. “… Just put in simple terms, if you had two (cases) at one point and you increased to four, you’d increase by 50%, so you just kind of have to put it in … more broad terms and not … lose the other data. So, for instance, when we look at the number of COVID cases per 100,000, we’re pretty much just middle of the pack normal.”
If being the sixth-worst in the United States is “middle of the pack,” Montana is competing with its neighbor to the west in a race to the political bottom.
There were 855 COVID-19 hospitalizations, 30 fewer than the previous day, and 268 patients in ICU beds, which was an increase of five. There were 60 available adult ICU beds across the state of Oregon, which is an improvement from two weeks ago.
The OHA’s latest COVID-19 forecast shows a slowing in the decline of daily cases and hospitalizations through mid-October. The report estimates 495 cases per 100,000 people, or an average of 1,480 daily cases and 81 hospitalizations for the two weeks between September 29 and October 12.
In our neighbor to the south, new COVID cases among children now outnumber those among the elderly.
[SEATTLE] – (MTN) The Seattle Office of Police Accountability released findings on 15 more investigations related to protests motivated by the death of George Floyd in May of 2020. Of the 15 cases, 2 were “partially sustained,” and 3 resulted in “management action.” Additionally, the OPA recommends a total ban on the use of blast balls for crowd control.
The batch of reports recommends an officer receive disciplinary action and 7 more to get additional training. In many cases, the OPA concluded that officers pushed the limits of appropriate conduct but did not violate policy. In other cases, reports stated they could not identify the specific officer who violated department policy, preventing disciplinary action.
The most critical finding regards the use of blast balls. Several reports documented injuries sustained by people by the devices, despite evolving policy in their use. In one case where a protester was seriously injured, and the incident was captured on video the OPA concluded, “For these reasons, OPA herein amplifies its previous Management Action Recommendations and recommends that, unless SPD can show compelling evidence that blast balls can be used in a safe, non-indiscriminate manner that takes into account how blast balls functionally deploy and largely eliminates the risk of harm to non-violent parties, this tool be banned in its entirety.
“OPA reaches this conclusion based on the belief that, even if its outstanding recommendations concerning blast balls are all implemented (i.e., no overhand throws or deployments at persons unless an imminent harm to person standard is met), there is no guarantee that bad outcomes will not still result.”
The last time Seattle Police used one for crowd control was on December 18, 2020, at Cal Anderson Park during a homeless sweep. That incident was live-streamed by Converge Media.
The officer recommended for disciplinary action was involved in an August 12, 2020, incident where they drove an unmarked police vehicle aggressively at a group of protesters outside of Cal Anderson Park. The incident was caught on two separate videos. One video shows protesters scattering, including jumping over hedges and a wall to avoid being struck. The OPA concluded that the officer drove approximately 80 feet on the sidewalk before exiting back to the street to avoid hitting a bus shelter.
The officer who was driving during that incident did not cooperate with the OPA during the investigation. The OPA referenced the case for criminal charges to the Seattle Police Department, which concluded they could not build a case beyond “a reasonable doubt.”
Another investigation has resulted in the opening of a new case. The OPA concluded that an arrest made on June 8, 2020, was without probable cause. However, the officer that processed the arrest was not the arresting officer. An investigation into the arresting officer has been opened by the OPA.
We reviewed the 15 reports released today and provided a summary of findings, as well as links to the original reports.
Case 2020OPA-0430– Excessive Force – blast balls, 40MM launcher used on protesters – June 8, 2020
An individual reported an unknown officer targeted him with a tear gas canister and a 40MM blue-tipped round. The OPA determined the complaint is not sustained in part because OPA was unable to identify the deployment specifically referenced by the complainant, so the OPA cannot determine whether or not it was an appropriate use of force.
Case 2020OPA-0451 – Excessive Force – blast ball buttock injury and pepper spray – June 8, 2020
An individual reported an unknown Seattle Police Department employee deployed crowd control weapons, including a blast ball and pepper spray without warning, causing injury. The OPA determined the complaint is “not sustained” because of the significant number of individuals present at the time of the deployment, the dark conditions, and the placement of umbrellas that prevented individual demonstrators from being identified.
Case 2020OPA-0467 – Excessive Force – officers falsely arrested, dragged woman having seizure – July 25, 2020
Multiple people reported they were arrested for no reason, subject to excessive force. Additionally, the complaint alleged the Seattle Police Department intentionally did not provide medical attention to a person having a seizure. There was an additional complaint that Seattle police did not properly secure the person’s property having a seizure.
Four officers were named in the case, with 9 allegations against them.
The first officer was investigating for violating 16.130 for requirements on providing medical aid.
The second officer was investigated for violating 8.200 using force only when authorized.
The third officer was investigated for violating 6.010, requiring probable cause to make an arrest, 8.200, and 16.130.
The fourth officer was investigated for violating 6.010, 8.200, 16.130, and 11.050, officer requirements to secure detainee property.
The OPA determined that only the fourth officer, referenced as “named employee #4,” should receive a training referral regarding securing a detainee’s property.
“OPA finds that, once NE#1 took Complainant #1 into his custody, he was responsible for her property. However, OPA recognizes that this was a quick moving situation and that NE#4 reasonably believed that he exigently needed to move Complainant #1 to another location. OPA also notes that NE#4 did return to the scene and collect property that he believed belonged to complainant. While this was incorrect, he acted in good faith when he did so. For these reasons and under the circumstances, OPA concludes that a Training Referral is the appropriate result.”
Case 2020OPA-0495 – Excessive Force – blast ball injury to protester – no date for the incident provided
An individual reported that a police officer shot a stun grenade (blast ball) that exploded and “harmed the protester.” It also alleges that when another person came to render aid, that person was arrested by a second police officer.
The first officer was investigated for violating 14.090, making individual decisions on the use of pepper spray (OC) and blast balls consistent with Title 8 Use of Force policy and providing aid to subjects exposed to pepper spray or blast balls, when feasible.
The second officer was investigated for violating 6.010, requiring probable cause to make an arrest, 8.200, and 16.130.
There were two significant findings in this investigation. First, the OPA calls for the complete banning of blast balls as a crowd control device. The report stated that the use of a blast ball complied with 14.090. However, it was apparent by the injuries to the victim and video of the incident and that even with changes in use of force guidance, there is no way to “guarantee bad outcomes will not still result.”
The second outcome involves the second officer and the arrest of the second individual. The report states, “OPA struggles to understand why this arrest was made. While the Subject had remained in the area after a dispersal order had been given, he was moving. In addition, at the time of his arrest, he was not willfully disobeying orders to engage in malfeasance, but was trying to shield Witness #1, who was on the ground and injured, from further harm. Given this, the Subject should not have been arrested.”
Despite this finding, the person arrested was detained by a different officer. That unnamed third officer handed off the detainee to the officer investigated by the OPA to process the arrest. Although the report concluded 6.010 was violated, the officer did “not know the exact reasons for why the arrest was made, and there is no indication that he spoke to the arresting officer about this.”
This investigation has opened up an additional OPA case against a third Seattle police officer. The report did not provide the new case number.
Case 2020OPA-0515 – Officer drove onto sidewalk, nearly hitting protesters – August 12, 2020
Three officers were named in this high-profile case that was captured on video outside of Cal Anderson Park. Two officers were found to have violated department policy. One has received a written reprimand, and another has discipline pending.
The first officer was investigated for violating 5.001 employees should strive to be professional. The employee was found to have violated the policy and is receiving a written reprimand.
The second officer was investigated for violating 5.001, 5.001 requiring adherence to laws, city policy, and department policy, 13.030, officers may drive in an emergency response only when the need outweighs the risk. A fourth violation of 5.001, employees may use discretion, was removed from the investigation. The employee was found to have violated 2 of the 3 policies.
A third officer was investigating for violating 5.001 employees should strive to be professional, and it concluded the allegation was “not sustained.”
The report details the August 12 incident where an unmarked SPD vehicle drove up on the sidewalk and traveled for 80 feet toward protesters scattered, including one jumping over a wall. The officer under disciplinary action did not cooperate with the OPA investigation, refusing to testify per the report.
The OPA referred the officer’s actions to the Seattle Police Traffic Division for criminal investigation. The traffic division concluded a criminal case could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and referenced the case back to the OPA.
The OPA concluded that even if the officer’s claim that they were chasing suspects that were shining strobe lights in their face, “the risk he took simply to apprehend individuals using a strobe light were dangerous, ill advised, and, as was shown by the numerous complaints and public concern this incident generated, undermined public trust and confidence.”
The officer will also be disciplined for his comments captured on video. “Calling a fleeing subject a roach, referring to Seattle pejoratively as “fucking dirty,” and telling community members that his job is to “babysit” for “200 grand” is unacceptable. This is particularly the case given NE#2’s role as a supervisor.”
Case 2020OPA-0522 – Officer played “Bad Boys” song, taunting protesters – no date for the incident provided
Two officers were referenced in this complaint. Despite a conclusion that the allegations are “not sustained,” both officers were reference for additional training.
A Seattle Police Department van was observed by an individual playing the song Bad Boys by Inner Circle, made famous by the reality TV show COPS. She went to the East Precinct to express her concern about the incident. A sergeant came out to talk to her and “downplayed” the incident.
The investigation revealed the sergeant that spoke to the person about the issue was a passenger in the van. The OPA report states, “NE#2 should not have been the supervisor assigned to speak with the complainant about her concerns as NE#2 was involved in the potential misconduct. NE#2 should have recognized this, recused herself, and had another supervisor handle the complaint. This was the case even given how chaotic the day was.”
The report calls for the van’s driver and the sergeant to “be informed that their conduct was outside of the Department’s expectations and should not be repeated. Lastly, the Named Employees should be notified that future similar conduct will result in a Sustained finding and the imposition of discipline.”
The sergeant was also found to require retraining not to be involved in complaints when “she is involved.”
Case 2020OPA-0569 – Excessive Force – officers tackle male in Cal Anderson Park – September 1, 2020
An individual reported that a police officer failed to de-escalate before using force and applied excessive force during the arrest of a demonstrator.
In that incident, police told a person within Cal Anderson Park during a homeless sweep to stop walking. One officer grabbed the person’s backpack from behind, and another officer tackled the individual when they pulled away. Based on the bodycam video, the report concluded that the use of force of justified and at an appropriate level.
Case 2020OPA-0585 – Excessive Force – officer shoved woman who hit her head – September 7, 2020
A person claimed that an officer failed to de-escalate and used excessive force when the officer pushed a demonstrator. The OPA also investigated that the officer “may have been dishonest” when he denied making any physical contact with the demonstrator.
According to the report, two people complained about the incident, but not the women pushed by the officer. The OPA could not identify the person in the complaint, complicating the investigation. The incident was captured on Twitter and two bodycams, but none of the videos were conclusive. The OPA states they hired an outside expert to analyze and enhance the video.
The OPA believes that the officer likely did make physical contact with the protester; however, it cannot conclusively prove it. The report states, “Ultimately, OPA finds the expert analysis to be persuasive. The expert, despite using sophisticated technology to analyze, refine, and slow down the video, could not conclusively identify whether or not NE#1 pushed the Subject. This report serves to prevent OPA from meeting its burden of proof to establish misconduct on NE#1’s part. Accordingly, and while OPA retains significant concerns about this case, OPA cannot definitively prove that NE#1 pushed the Subject.”
Case 2020OPA-0586 – Officer antagonized protesters – no date for the incident provided
The OPA received a complaint that an officer engaged in a “back and forth” with demonstrators that were unprofessional and escalatory.
The lengthy report outlines a series of exchanges with the officer and multiple protesters. The incident, captured on video outside of the King County Jail, was reported by a third party to the OPA.
The officer was referred for additional training with the report concluding, “his failure to end the discussion once it was clearly unproductive. He should be advised of other manners in which he could have handled the interaction and should be given any retraining that his chain of command deems necessary.”
Case 2020OPA-0587 – Excessive Force – officers charge at protesters outside of SPOG – September 7, 2020
The lengthy investigation and report involve 7 different officers during the Labor Day protest outside of SPOG. In total, the 7 officers were accused of 9 policy violations.
The report states in justification of the actions of Seattle Police that day, “SPD’s Computer Assisted Dispatch (CAD) report of the incident, which collated updates added to the call’s incident number, reflected that, at approximately 6:07 PM, SPD’s Intelligence Unit reported that the “signal to act” within the crowd would be a plume of white smoke. At 6:09 PM, Intelligence reported that a male in the crowd wearing tan clothing and a pink bandana possessed approximately twelve Molotov cocktails in a box of Corona beer. OPA’s analysis of security video after the fact showed an individual visible at the right of the crowd and carrying a box matching later photographs of the box of Molotov cocktails recovered at the incident scene. This individual was, in fact, wearing a dark blue or gray hoodie and tan gloves.”
“Two minutes after the report, the call was updated to reflect that there was probable cause to arrest the individual and a targeted arrest was approved by a Lieutenant. As discussed more fully in the context of 2020OPA-0583, the attempted arrest was unsuccessful and the incident devolved into violence towards police officers and uses of force, including less-lethal tools, in response. As this continued, the decision was made the declare the incident a riot and to disperse the crowd.”
On November 26, Malcontent News released an investigation into the events on September 7, raising serious questions about Seattle Police actions on that day. Video captured on body cameras and our team indicated numerous opportunities to arrest the individual with the Corona Beer box if the intent of Seattle Police was only to stop that individual.
The report concluded that the actions of the 7 officers were “lawful and proper.”
Case 2020OPA-0611 – Excessive Force – pepper spray directed at a group – July 19, 2020
In the report, the incident happened outside of the West Precinct with the officer investigated for violating 14.090; an officer may make individual decisions to deploy OC Spray (pepper spray) and Blast Balls consistent with Title 8 – Use of Force.
The report details the events outside of the sally port at the West Precinct, where a riot was declared. The report states that bodycam video supports the officer had bottles, a traffic cone, and a firework thrown at them. It concluded that the use of pepper spray was appropriate.
Case 2020OPA-0613 – Officer pictured posing with pepper spray – September 15, 2020
Three Seattle Police Department officers were investigated after a picture emerged of them on social media laughing during a protest, while one held a bottle of pepper spray. Two officers have been referenced for additional training.
In the incident, a woman was arrested by officers and experienced a broken tibia. A group of protesters who were attempting to de-arrest her were pepper-sprayed and also arrested.
The report concluded that police did not use excessive force and the actions were “lawful and proper.” The report states, “The force was reasonable to effectuate the arrest of the Subject, who failed to comply with officers’ directions to move towards them and went back into the crowd in an attempt to prevent being taken into custody. Given her behavior, force was appropriate to bring her under control. The force was also necessary under the circumstances. Notably, pulling the Subject out of the crowd was a lower level use of force than pepper spraying her or using other lesslethal tools. Moreover, had the officers tried to go into the group to extract her, it likely would have resulted in more harm to the officers and demonstrators. Lastly, the force – pulling the Complainant – was proportional to the threat posed by her actions and those of the other demonstrators who actively prevented her arrest. That the Subject suffered a leg injury is unfortunate, but it does not cause the force to be not proportional or otherwise inconsistent with policy.”
After the arrest, the first officer in the complaint accidentally discharged a fire extinguisher, enveloping the third officer. The officer hit with the fire retardant thought it was pepper spray. The first officer took a picture of the one sprayed with Cold Fire and another officer.
The accidental deployment of the fire extinguisher, the discussion, and photo-taking was captured on bodycams.
The first officer and third officer in the report received a training referral. The report states, “The chain of command for NE#1 and NE#3 should discuss with them their decision to take a photograph during the demonstration. The chain of command should specifically instruct the officers that such actions, even if not intended to demean or insult others, can have this functional result and can diminish public trust and confidence in the Department.”
Case 2020OPA-0644 – Excessive Force – blast ball ankle injury – July 25, 2020
Two officers were investigated for the use of force using blast balls and 40MM less-lethal devices.
In the case of the 40MM less-lethal round that struck a cyclist’s head, the report states the video of the incident could not identify the officer who fired the shot. “If an officer did deploy a 40mm at the head of an individual who was not engaging in any violence, as appeared to be shown by the video, this would clearly violate policy. However, due to OPA’s inability to identify when the force was used and who used it, OPA cannot reach a definitive conclusion on this allegation.”
In the case of the blast ball, the report made a similar conclusion to 2020OPA-0495. The report states, “Given this weighing of the evidence, OPA concludes that, while a close call, NE#1’s deployment did not clearly violate policing. However, as discussed more fully below, OPA believes that it is emblematic of additional revisions that should be made to SPD policies and training. Of additional concern to OPA is the manner in which the blast ball deployed. First, OPA believes that SPD needs to reiterate that officers must roll a blast ball unless they can articulate why another deployment style was necessitated. Here, while NE#1 deployed the blast ball down towards the ground and in an open space, the sidearm deployment may have resulted in the blast ball skipping off the ground and detonating at a higher level than planned.”
Case 2020OPA-0664 – Hostile comments to arrestee – September 15, 2020
Two Seattle Police Department officers were investigated for bias-based policing, professional behavior, and a duty to report alleged policy violations.
The first officer got in a lengthy exchange with a women under arrest. The report states, “NE#1 knelt beside the Subject and stated: “Hey, you guys are committing property destruction in my city. I don’t care if it’s rude or not.” The Subject responded that it was “[her] city too, thank you.” NE#1 replied: “Are you? Were you born here?” The Subject stated that she was. NE#1 said: “me, north Seattle.” The Subject responded: “me too.”
A bias-policing claim was made, and the OPA investigation concluded that the comment, “you guys are committing property destruction in my city,” was not based on race but a general comment about protesters. The second officer present stated he wasn’t paying attention to the conversation but that the woman under arrest “was trying to cooperate.”
One officer in this incident was referred for additional training. The report concludes, “His chain of command should discuss OPA’s findings with him and, reiterate that, regardless of his frustration level, NE#1 needs to avoid these types of interactions. Lastly, NE#1 should be notified that future similar conduct will likely result in the imposition of discipline. This counseling and any associated retraining should be documented.”
Case 2020OPA-0666 – Excessive Force – force during arrest – no date for the incident provided
An SPD officer was investigated for improper use of force on an individual at a demonstration.
A person filed an anonymous complaint stating that during their arrest, the officer twisted their hands despite complying, refused to remove or reposition their mask despite repeated requests, and put his hands in their pockets without asking about gender identification.
Based on the report, the OPA states they reviewed bodycam video of the incident. The OPA report does not explicitly mention the complaint of the hands being twisted. It does conclude they could not determine if the person was having breathing difficulties due to the respirator because it muffled the person’s speech. The bodycam does not show the officer putting their hands in the pocket per the report and recorded the officer asking about gender identification.
The findings were that the officer’s conduct was “lawful and proper.”
Our live webcast from the former Seattle Anarchist Jurisdiction
Content Warning
Editor’s Note: This show contains videos of events that some viewers may find disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised. Additionally, our remote connection had issues at a couple of points in the show – we apologize for the experience.
The show from April 29, 2021, featured David Obelcz and our co-host Jennifer Smith.
Mike Solan is unhappy with a police officer’s experience at Chocolati
King County is getting $62 million in federal funds to aid the unhomed
Joe Biden addresses a joint session of Congress
Follow-ups and corrections
Correction on the Bothell stabbing story
Pierce County Council has announced they are pausing the investigation of Sheriff Ed Troyer
Update on the arrest of 73-year old Karen Garner
Royal’lee Wallace murder investigation
Seattle’s Indian population mobilizes to support their homeland during COVID crisis
Kirkland postal carriers start a food drive
Native Americans petition for the return of wild Bison in Montana
Our live webcast from the Seattle Anarchist Jurisdiction
The show from December 31, 2020, featured guest host, Jennifer Smith. This special edition of Malcontentment Happy Hour was a countdown of the top five stories we covered in 2020.
COVID-19 predictions from March 2020
May 30, 2020, George Floyd protests in Seattle
Seattle CHOP – May 30 to July 4
Seattle Labor Day March and our CCO gets doxxed
Political fallout in Seattle from 2020
We also had four runner-ups.
Life is stranger than fiction – Yakkity Yak and the Portland Police Department
Matthew, the religious protester who was everywhere in 2020
The city of Seattle was found to be in contempt of court for multiple uses of force violations by a federal judge. The violations represent four distinct incidents, two on September 7, one on September 22, and one on September 23. The city of Seattle has until December 11 to respond and the federal court will issue a remedy on or by December 18.
On Monday, Seattle Police Officer’s Guild President Mike Solan addressed area realtors during a webinar hosted by Seattle King County Realtors. During his presentation, Solan stated that race wasn’t an issue in King County and that Black Lives Matter activists were hurting Seattle property values.
This is so disturbing. I just joined my first Realtor meeting EVER and SPD police chief union is telling realtors that race is not issue. And that property values are being impacted by BLM activists pic.twitter.com/MT9eUJ5mB8
Despite Solan’s claims, a review of the Seattle King County Realtors Twitter feed paints a different picture. On November 6, 2020, the trade organization linked to a Windermere Economics Report that indicated the King County real estate market is in excellent condition. The report cited the high price of land as a factor restricting construction, stating “New construction permit activity is lagging due to expensive land prices and challenging regulatory fees. Builders are starting to adapt to meet demand by adjusting their products.“
For existing homes, the report indicates that a lack of homes for sale continues to create a challenging market, “Overall sales activity for single-family resale homes has increased despite low supply and home prices having [sic] more than doubled in eight years. 2020 sales are expected to exceed 2019 but are still being limited by supply.” In a forecast by Matthew Gardner in the same report, reasons cited for departure from the Seattle-Bellevue core included heading to “cheaper markets” and “renters…[turning] into buyers as more people who can work remotely can relocate further from work for cheaper homes.“
Further in the report, Gardner writes, “new and existing condos are troubling.” In a Seattle Times report in 2018, a study indicated that 88% of 2017 new residential construction in Seattle was high-density units – the same properties that have become undesirable due to COVID.
The COVID era has created a new generation of tech employees flush with cash. An Amazon employee who started in January of 2018 has seen their stock options grow 274%. For a Microsoft employee, the growth is 243%. With interest rates at historic lows, employees at both tech giants are no longer beholden to the South Lake Union or Redmond campuses.
According to Redfin, the median home price in King County has swollen to $690K, a 10.8% increase over last year. The average time on the market is 23 days, with the listing going for 1.6% over the asking price. According to Windermere, the median sale price in Seattle is $800K, an increase of 6.5% over the previous year.
In support of Gardner’s market observations, SeaTac, Kent, and Sammamish have seen home prices grow by 14.7% or more. Despite Solan’s claims that BLM activists are depressing Seattle home prices, Shoreline, Kirkland, Burien, Renton, Federal Way, and Snoqualmie also have seen prices grow by single digits. Gardner calls out Boeing specifically as an economic black spot. Boeing has recently made announcements that put the Renton factory’s future in question, creating uncertainly in the market.
In October, a survey of 400 area residents by Crosscut/Elway showed significant citizen support for Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Seattle and King County. Seventy-five-percent of Seattle respondents said they supported or mostly supported the protests. Another Redfin study indicated that 30% of Americans want to move from cities or changed plans to move to a city due to civil unrest. The same survey also revealed that 23% of respondents liked where they lived even more, despite the turmoil.
The Redfin story cites a condo that went for sale just a block from the former CHOP that even had windows smashed during the summer unrest. The unit sold in five days, beating the average time on the market by 18 days. Daryl Fairweather wrote, “For some families, the protests, curfews, and looting that have taken place in 2020 may have played a role in the decision to leave big-city life behind, but remote work and record-low mortgage rates were likely the driving factors.“
Unless Congress takes action in the next 29 days, a looming explosion of foreclosures and evictions will start this winter. In Washington state, over 200,000 families could lose their homes in 2021, creating another wave of wealth transfer. Despite Solan’s claims of Black Lives Matter impacting the real estate market, area real estate data, and studies from experts in the field don’t support his position.
Seattle King County Realtors did not respond to a request for a statement.
On September 7, 2020, 300 to 400 people marched from the International District to the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild (SPOG) offices in SODO. At 6:20 PM, Seattle Police took direct action against a mostly peaceful group, rushing in with over 100 officers in two directions. When the smoke cleared, Seattle Police and the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild claimed they moved on the group due to intelligence that an individual had Molotov cocktails. They advanced to arrest that person. Our investigation indicates the official version of the events that happened that day doesn’t stand up.
From September to November, both SPOG and SPD have released videos of events during the protest. The videos they released included security cameras, body cameras, and scraped content from journalists. We analyzed their video in combination with over nine hours of video Malcontent News captured on September 7.
The Seattle Police Officer’s Guild released a video on September 11, 2020, which highlighted an individual carrying a Corona beer box as the known suspect with the Molotov cocktails. SPOG accused the person of wanting to burn down their offices and that it was the march’s broader purpose. SPOG, in their video, states that was the reason police advanced on protesters.
In November, the Seattle Police Department released over an hour of security camera and officer’s body camera video from September 7. The SPD video also claims that police moved in on protesters due to an individual with Molotov cocktails. An SPD statement reads, “During the march, SPD received information that a suspect in the crowd had and was readying Molotov cocktails. members of the crowd began to gather outside SPOG, gathering and placing combustible material in front of the fence.“
We interviewed protesters from that day, and one of our cameras captured a person throwing trash over the fence. Protesters told us they had picked up trash during the march from the International District and had planned to toss the garbage over the fence but had no plan or intent on lighting it on fire. SPD’s own story of a lone operative with Molotov cocktails morphs into a coordinated effort as their statement continues. “Others in the crowd began to take those same materials, throwing them over the fence in a coordinated effort.“
Our video analysis shows that the man with the Corona beer box walks past the people leaving trash bags at the northeast corner of the SPOG fence. He continues to walk southbound past the SPOG building and into the main body of protesters adjacent to the SPOG parking lot. Just as Seattle Police move in, an individual throws one bag of garbage over the fence. The video doesn’t support the premise of a coordinated effort with the trash, nor coordination with the man carrying the box.
An investigation that reviewed the officer’s statements, SPOG press release, videos, and the SPD released videos created more questions than providing answers. Our review shows that the Seattle Police had multiple opportunities to arrest the person allegedly with Molotov cocktails, yet took no action.
Video recorded by journalists on September 7 shows the person of interest standing mere feet from officers, directing protesters to head north. Seattle Police Department body camera video shows the individual in front of multiple Seattle police and SWAT officers. Another video shows the person of interest about an hour later, marching back with protesters.
The man holding the Corona beer box has been a point of controversy from all sides since September 7. Some people in the protest community have told us he is a “stupid protester” operating independently. Others have accused the individual of being part of the extreme-right, there to discredit the movement. Some suggested the individual seen later in videos is a different person from the one carrying the Corona beer box.
Our analysis discovered that the man carrying the Corona beer box had a red shirt under his darker shirt. A camera caught a glimpse of the red shirt sticking out from under his sweat jacket about 30 minutes before the protest group arrived at SPOG headquarters. SPD body camera video, which shows SPD officers ignoring the man, also shows the same red undershirt.
Part of SPD’s claims is that on September 7, people inside SPOG headquarters smelled gasoline. The claim being, they could smell the Molotov cocktails outside. On the same day, the SPD Twitter released a photo of the opened beer box showing the contents inside. However, the bottles appear to be empty or near empty, and nothing in the contents has the color of gasoline.
SPD’s statement from the day declares, “Lt. Brooks ordered the arrest of the suspect with the Molotov cocktail and at 6:20 PM SPD made its first contact with the crowd…” The wording is essential. Like the SPOG video of September 11, the SPD statement establishes they knew who the suspect was. That person is the man carrying the Corona beer box. Not only is he never captured, he stands feet away from police on multiple occasions where arresting him would have been safe for officers.
Our investigation concludes that the Seattle Police Department’s claim that they advanced on protesters to arrest an individual they knew to have Molotov cocktails is highly questionable. The Seattle Police Officer’s Guild identifies the person in their video on September 11. In the videos released by the Seattle Police Department in November, the same individual goes ignored in their analysis.
After six months of protests, a council vote, a mayoral veto, and a veto override, The Seattle City Council reversed course again, voting to fund police hiring in 2021. The Seattle Police Department in October reported they had 1,203 uniformed officers. If fully funded, the hiring plan for 2021 could grow the police force to more than 1,300 officers.
Councilmembers Lisa Herbold, Teresa Mosqueda, Alex Pedersen, Lorena Gonzalez, Dan Strauss, Andrew Lewis, and Debora Juarez voted to hire more officers in 2021. The council’s reversal shatters six months of conversations and promised action to the BIPOC community, seeking sweeping changes to the Seattle Police Department. Although cuts to the police budget for 2021 remain, the consent decree coupled with an onerous contract with the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild has made cuts in logical places a near impossibility.
Here are the council members who voted to hire more police officers, despite a looming budget crisis and a historic community uprising to defund the Seattle Police Department:
Lisa Herbold Teresa Mosqueda Alex Pedersen Lorena Gonzalez Dan Strauss Andrew Lewis Debora Juarez https://t.co/bW3nomV6sM
Compared to other west coast cities, only Oakland and San Francisco have larger per-capita police forces and budgets. In San Francisco, the cities approach to crime, drug addiction, and homelessness is mostly considered a failure. In Seattle, backers of the police frequently comment on how they don’t want the city to become San Francisco, yet are often the biggest proponents of a San Francisco approach to policing.
City leaders in Seattle continue to form advisory committees, hire Street Czars, and commit to studies without action. The continued issues of “legal redlining,” underfunded schools in BIPOC communities, and a non-approach to drug addiction and homelessness have gone unaddressed for decades. Despite the police budget growing 50% in the last ten years to the third-highest per-capita on the west coast, there has been no appreciable movement on crime rates. Some crimes, including assault and sex crimes, have increased over the last ten years – with assaults growing dramatically.
Other cities in the United States have been able to make more progress with less disruption and protests. Austin cut their police budget by over 30%, Minneapolis voted to abolish their police force and create a new one from the ground up, and Denver passed a series of reforms. Protests for Black Lives Matter and police reform began on May 26, 2020, in Seattle, peaking in mid-June while the world watched CHAZ/CHOP on Capitol Hill.
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