I lived in Seattle, off and on, over a period of 25 years. I feel for
the
people who are coming into first contact with "the bums." The Seattle
police have long been known for unprofessional behavior and an "us against
them" attitude.
I was assaulted one night for the crime of walking down the sidewalk
with
my hands in my pocket. No warning or identification, just a
plains-clothesman with an angry scowl who turned to approach me
threateningly. When I turned to face him, I was jumped by two officers who
came up behind me from an alleyway, kicked my legs out from under me,
pulled my arms behind my back and smashed my face into the side of a brick
building. I lost three teeth, cracked a kneecap and got to spend three days
in the Seattle Jail. (No big deal, anyone who is picked up must spend three
days in jail in order to be released.) No charges were ever filed., They
released me, after my three days of sleeping on the floor, at five a.m. on
a Sunday morning (It's a long walk to find a phone in downtown Seattle at
that time on a Sunday with an injured leg.).
I found that legal services have a long backlog of these kinds of cases
and a non-existent success rate. No lawyer takes them on contingency.
(Police policing police, protected by lawyers who protect lawyers.)
Would you like to hear the story of a friend who was clubbed with a
nightstick near the Kingdome by an rented off-duty Seattle policemen? He
and his crutches were taken for his 3-day sojourn in the Seattle jail for
jaywalking. He was denied use of his crutches in jail and when he appeared
in front of the judge on Tudesday morning (in a wheelchair) the judge
dismissed the charges against him after bemoaning the fact that "this is a
little bit too much, guys."
The police departments creation of a rioting situation is predictable.
Such reactions are standard policy.
ps: Pick out Seattle's finest at the next Seahawk broadcast to get the
flavor of the situation.
Ken Spurling
68 1.6L
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