Video shows Seattle police retreat from unruly mob that stopped cops from breaking up illegal street-racing gathering where 4 people were shot



Dashcam video shows an unruly crowd attacking a police cruiser in Seattle, Washington. The chaotic mob prevented police from breaking up an illegal street-racing gathering in the area where four people were shot — one fatally.

Shortly before 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, officers from the Seattle Police Department responded to reports of a large crowd assembling at the intersection of Broadway and E Pike Street. The crowd gathered to watch an illegal street race and cars do reckless donuts.

When officers arrived at the scene, they were "met with resistance."

Police dashcam footage shows the disorderly crowd hurling items at the police vehicle. Individuals were seen on video jumping on the hood of the police cruiser and dancing.

The police cruiser began to back away from the crowd. Some people constructed a makeshift barricade in the middle of the street with bicycles and traffic barriers. Several rioters threw objects that struck the police cruiser.

As the officer with the Seattle Police Department retreated, the horde stalked the cruiser.

At the end of the dashcam video, a firework is seen being launched in the distance.

Capitol Hill Seattle Blog reported, "Around 2:46 a.m., property damage was reported in the area but officers were told not to engage — 'Only going in for life safety, no property damage.'"

The crowd reportedly grew to roughly 200 people as cars performed donuts in the street.

The Seattle Police Department said in a statement, "Shortly before 4:00 a.m., officers heard gunfire and located two victims at the intersection of Broadway and E Pike Street. Police performed life-saving measures on both subjects until Seattle Fire Department personnel arrived."

Four people were shot early Sunday morning in the Capitol Hill area — where the street-racing action took place. A woman died from her gunshot wounds, according to Newsweek.

The three other shooting victims were reportedly in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries.

"Officers located several shell casings, but no suspect," police said.

No arrests were made in connection to the shootings.

The Seattle City Council passed legislation on Tuesday with the intent to reduce drag racing and dangerous driving, according to KOMO.

"Our community has been pleading for help for years to stop drag racing," said Councilmember Lisa Herbold — who chairs the Public Safety Committee and sponsored the legislation. "This month's crash on Alki Avenue Southwest shows just how dangerous conditions have become. I'm proud to have partnered with neighbors and pass this first-of-its-kind legislation to make our streets safer."

The city will install speed-enforcement cameras where there is dangerous driving often reported. However, Capitol Hill is not on the list of areas that will get security cameras.

2023-208226 Broadway Incident www.youtube.com

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71-year-old homeowner's gun jams when confronting alleged burglar armed with a pitchfork, so he draws his sword: 'He just saw red'



A 71-year-old man and his 61-year-old wife returned to their home in Seattle's North Beacon Hill neighborhood around 1:30 p.m. Sunday to find the place in disarray. The kitchen window was shattered. Various items were out of order. The homeowner ventured farther inside to find the culprit lurking in his living room, wielding a pitchfork.

Cody Burns, a neighbor who lives opposite the victim, told KOMO-TV, "He said he just saw red, and it turned into a scuffle that got violent really quick."

According to Detective Judinna Gulpan of the Seattle Police Department, the 71-year-old tested his two fists against the burglar's five metal tines.

Amid the ensuing battle, the suspect attempted to stab the homeowner with the pitchfork, catching him once in the eye. However, the Odinic 71-year-old proved too spry for the suspect ten years his junior, dodging a fatal thrust and retreating to his bedroom, where he kept his firearm.

The suspect followed the homeowner into the bedroom and wrestled him for control of the gun. Despite the alleged burglar's best efforts, the homeowner managed to break free long enough to draw down on him. He aimed true and pulled the trigger, but the suspect was left still standing. The gun had jammed.

Since lead didn't work, the homeowner opted for steel.

Police indicated that after his firearm failed him, the 71-year-old drew his samurai sword and skewered the suspect.

The bloodied suspect reportedly landed on the homeowner. Fortunately, the lady of the house intervened and helped pull the suspect off her husband.

The gored suspect scurried away to a nearby residence, where he was later arrested by police.

While the 61-year-old suspect ended up with a serious hole through his torso, the homeowner reportedly was left with a gouged eye and non-life-threatening injuries to his torso.

The suspect was arrested for first-degree burglary. After receiving medical treatment for his stab wound at Harborview Medical Center, he was booked into King County Jail on $150,000 bail.

KCPQ-TV reported that in police bodycam footage obtained through a public records request, the homeowner can be heard telling officers, "My house has been burglarized. He was inside my house. He was inside my house and he attacked me with a pitchfork. ... I grabbed the samurai sword and defend myself with the samurai sword."

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Seattle officials considered giving Black Lives Matter a police precinct cops abandoned amid violent protests in 2020: Report



Seattle officials considered giving Black Lives Matter the police department's East Precinct building that cops abandoned amid violent protests in June 2020, shortly after the death of George Floyd, the Seattle Times reported, citing newly released documents.

What are the details?

Then-Mayor Jenny Durkan’s administration drafted legislation to transfer the multimillion-dollar property to Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County, the paper said.

Calvin Goings, director of the city’s Department of Finance and Administrative Services, emailed three memos and a draft resolution to Durkan on June 8, 2020 — around the time police were abandoning the East Precinct on Capitol Hill, the Times reported.

Durkan’s office discussed the transfer with the BLM chapter, the paper said, adding that the activist organization had lobbied to turn the building into a center for public health and community care.

“Good afternoon Mayor, Please see the attached documents as requested. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns,” Goings wrote, according to the Times, which added that text messages exchanged among key decision-makers — including Durkan and her police and fire chiefs — have gone missing.

However, the Times obtained the East Precinct memos this month through a records request, and the paper said they're the only details that City Hall has publicly disclosed about the potential precinct building transfer. The paper added that Durkan — whose term expired last month — distanced herself from the plan, which never came to pass as police reoccupied the precinct on July 1.

Durkan abandoned the transfer idea after “the very preliminary work by [the city’s Department of Finance and Administrative Services] and the realities of policing confirmed it was neither feasible nor in the best interest of public safety,” according to an email from Durkan spokesperson Chelsea Kellogg, the Times said.

Police officials apparently weren’t included in the conversations, as spokesperson Sgt. Randy Huserik told the paper via email that "we were not aware of any plans on the city’s part to permanently leave the precinct, or any plans to share the space with the community."

Former Deputy Mayor Casey Sixkiller said in a recent deposition that the Durkan administration gave up on the East Precinct transfer idea after BLM activists said they didn’t want the property, the Times reported, adding that Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County board member Anthony Canape said the organization "will not make a statement at this time."

'No plan to transfer the East Precinct'

The paper added that the Durkan administration denied the precinct building was offered, noting that Kellogg said “there was no plan to transfer the East Precinct and from the time SPD made the decision to temporarily evacuate the precinct for safety reasons, it always planned to return."

However, the Times said the June 8 memos show Durkan’s office was interested in a transfer before the precinct was abandoned, adding that a BLM letter dated June 15 — and circulated by mayoral staffers — demanded the transfer and offered to kick in millions of dollars to repurpose the building.

“We demand an active, responsive resource and tool that works for us, not one simply handed off for political expediency,” the letter said, according to the paper, and added that "one of our goals in reclaiming the East Precinct for this use is to quiet the physical space and surroundings. Protesters need a reprieve. They need to know that demands have been met.”

Then-Deputy Mayor Shefali Ranganathan noted to other top mayoral staffers in an email that day that BLM is "willing to bring $ to the table," the Times reported.

But Kellogg suggested Durkan didn’t request the June 8 draft resolution, the paper said: “Interesting that you assume and state that the Mayor asked for a draft resolution on this property when that is not how the process works. [The city’s Department of Finance and Administrative Services] oversees both city owned property and many real estate deals.”

Yet FAS spokesperson Melissa Mixon said "the Durkan administration directed FAS — in its capacity as the city’s real estate and facility management agency — to outline the process to transfer the East Precinct to BLMSKC,” the Times reported.

What's more, the Times quoted from what it said was a transfer resolution: “The City transfers permanent use/ownership of … the East Precinct to Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County, effective July 1, 2020. The City of Seattle agrees to vacate the property and remove all law-enforcement materials and police-related facilities …”

Anything else?

Amid the standoffs between Seattle police and protesters in early June 2020, the paper said Durkan ordered cops to remove barricades and let protesters pass by.

As cops were moving to abandon the East Precinct, protesters began referring to the area as an "autonomous zone." Soon it was dubbed CHOP (Capitol Hill Organized Protest) and CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone), where activists lived for several weeks.

Durkin at first stated that "the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone #CHAZ is not a lawless wasteland of anarchist insurrection — it is a peaceful expression of our community's collective grief and their desire to build a better world." Yet at the same time the police chief said rapes and robberies were occurring in the zone — and officers weren't able to respond to them.

After shootings occurred in the area on back-to-back nights — one of them fatal — Durkan was finally done with the zone. She also apologized for saying the zone could bring about a "summer of love." Durkin announced on June 22 that police would go back to the East Precinct building, the Times said, and they did so on July 1.

Here's a June 12, 2020, video report about police abandoning the precinct and what happened in the area just afterward:

Police abandon precinct in Seattle neighborhood, demonstrators move in and demand reformsyoutu.be

Seattle DoorDash driver tries to thwart car theft by clinging to hood for several blocks and grabbing steering wheel to cause a crash: Report



A DoorDash driver in Seattle recently attempted to stop a thief from stealing his vehicle by hopping on the hood of his car as the thief sped away, KIRO-TV reported.

What are the details?

The food delivery driver reportedly remained on top of the vehicle for several blocks until he was eventually able to reach inside and grab the steering wheel. With the steering wheel in his grasp, he jerked in one direction and caused the car to crash.

At that point, the DoorDash driver, who was not identified in the report, rolled off the hood of the vehicle presumably to approach the thief. But the suspect drove away before he had the chance.

After the thief sped away, the delivery driver reportedly ran about a mile to the West Precinct to report his vehicle was stolen.

The incident took place in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle on Jan. 20 at around 11:30 p.m., according to Seattle police.

The department recorded that officers first responded to the scene after reports came in of a vehicle speeding down the street with a man clinging to the windshield and screaming for the driver to pull over. Witnesses reportedly confirmed the reports to officers who arrived on the scene.

Officers conducted an extensive search of the area and determined the general direction that the vehicle was traveling, but were unable to locate the vehicle.

During discussions with police at West Precinct, the delivery driver recounted that he had just finished a delivery and had stepped outside of his car to stretch his legs when the theft occurred.

He said his vehicle was still running when he saw someone jump behind the wheel and begin driving away.

Neither KIRO nor the Seattle police have provided an update on the case. TheBlaze attempted to contact the Seattle Police Department but was unable to receive a response before publication.

What else?

Seattle police continue to struggle against soaring crime in the city. Vehicle theft, specifically, has remained a major problem for the Northwest city. Seattle ranks inside the top 20 worst cities for vehicle theft, according to FBI data.

On the city's website, officials recommend that residents refrain from leaving their car unlocked and from leaving their windows down, leaving keys in the car, and fromparking in poorly lit places with low visibility.

Seattle police won't enforce certain traffic violations any longer over racism, equity concerns. But some cops fear new rules will embolden criminals.



While Seattle police no longer will enforce certain non-criminal traffic violations due to racism and equity concerns, officers told conservative commentator Jason Rantz that the new policies will embolden lawbreakers to commit more serious crimes.

What are the details?

Interim Chief Adrian Diaz announced Friday that the following violations no longer can be the sole reason officers pull over folks, Rantz noted in a piece for KTTH-AM:

  • Expired or missing vehicle registration;
  • Issues with display of registration plates;
  • Items hanging from rear-view mirror and cracks in windshield (though actual visual obstructions such as snow, fog, non-transparent material, or shattered windshields will be enforced); and
  • Bicycle helmet violations.

"We know there are concerns [that] these violations disproportionately fall on those who are unable to meet financial demands,” Diaz wrote, according to Rantz's piece.

However, folks still can be cited for the aforementioned violations if officers pull them over for more serious reasons, Rantz reported.

Believe it or not, Seattle Inspector General Lisa Judge in a May 2021 memo called for a total ban on low-level traffic stops, KTTH reported, adding that she claimed police pose a risk to black drivers they pull over.

“Police and community are destined to continue the same cycle of traffic stops gone wrong,” Judge wrote, according to the station. “To that end, the issue of what and how conduct should be policed is perhaps as important as other root causes, such as institutional racism and subconscious bias. For safety of both officers and the public and for racial fairness, SPD should seek to eliminate routine traffic stops for civil and non-dangerous violations.”

The police union successfully pushed back against Judge's radical demands, Rantz said, yet fears remain that such proposals aren't necessarily dead but just delayed.

And even though the move was modified to eliminate only certain low-level traffic stops, Rantz wrote that those very stops — e.g., expired registrations, issues with tags — can signal more serious criminal activity afoot.

'Catastrophic impacts' to public safety

“If we stopped conducting traffic stops for all traffic violations in the city, doing so would have catastrophic impacts to our community’s public safety interests,” Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan told Rantz on his KTTH radio show. “Moreover, if you were to compare today’s decision to what Inspector Judge first publicly said in May, today’s decision is a reasonable approach. Having said this, this decision will still have negative impacts to our community’s public safety interests and still supports the preposterous notion that police still engage in bias policing with traffic stops.”

Rantz reported that a source with "close knowledge of the negotiations around these policies" said that the Seattle Police Officers Guild vigorously fought against no longer enforcing all traffic stops for minor violations, arguing that the outcome would be a "lawless free-for-all."

Emboldening criminals

One officer told Rantz that policies removing officers' enforcement parameters will only lead to trouble.

"Auto theft is off the rails, and they switch plates all the time, or take them off and make fake temporary tags,” the officer noted to Rantz in regard to taking problematic vehicle plates off the enforcement list.

A second officer told Rantz of much scarier possible scenarios.

“Right off the top of my head, anybody who has kidnapped a child and takes their license plates off … or they have a matching vehicle for a bank robbery, and they’ve taken the license plates off … we’re not going to be able to stop them,” the officer noted to Rantz. “And the criminals already take the license plates off of stolen cars to go commit other crimes like armed robberies and carjackings.”

More from Rantz's KTTH piece:

What’s worse, thanks to statewide police reform bills, police can only detain suspects with probable cause. The previous standard was reasonable suspicion. For example, if an officer suspects a car is stolen due to missing registration, a suspicious-looking driver, and even a bullet hole in a windshield, they couldn’t detain the motorist because it wouldn’t meet probable cause.

“I can’t tell you how many gangsters have cars that were shot up three weeks ago but [have] nothing to do with a current crime,” a third officer told Rantz.

Seattle parents finally upset that district booted police from schools after students are threatened with an AR-15



Parents at a Seattle-area high school are furious that school district officials kicked police out of schools last year now that a student reportedly threatened classmates with an AR-15.

Seattle Public Schools suspended its district-wide school resource officer program in June 2020 due to the "current national events" that unfolded in the police-involved killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and subsequent police brutality protests.

What are the details?

KOMO-TV reported that an unnamed female student threatened students with an AR-15 in the parking lot at Ingraham High School last week.

Students were said to be coming back from lunch break when a male and a female were seen screaming at a group of students in the parking lot from inside a vehicle.

The girl, one witness said, had an AR-15 in her hands.

The witness' parent told KOMO, "The girl that [sic] was in the passenger seat clicked in and loaded in a magazine into the AR-15."

The witness said that the girl handed over the loaded rifle to the male driver, who then reportedly pointed the gun at the group of students in the lot and threatened to kill them.

“It was the middle of the day and somebody decided to, who knows," the parent told the station.

What is being said about this?

In a statement to the school community, Principal Martin Floe said that the two suspects were not Ingraham students.

His statement said:

An incident occurred yesterday at Ingraham High School that caused concern that I want to share with you.Around 2:45 p.m., students reported interacting with two people in a vehicle on the periphery of Ingraham property. The students also reported seeing a weapon, believed to be a firearm. The driver then briefly drove into the visitor parking lot on the west side of campus and then turned into the student parking lot. Neither of the occupants are believed to be Ingraham students.As soon as administration learned of the situation, we alerted the district's Safety & Security team, and we called 9-1-1. The incident is now under investigation by the Seattle Police Department.Thank you to our students for reporting this matter. We will continue to work to resolve this as the safety of our students, staff and school community is our top priority. We have been, and will continue to be, a school community where everyone feels safe, respected, and engaged.

Authorities confirmed that an incident took place at the school and said it was a "dispute between two groups of juveniles."

What else?

One parent told the station that the incident has prompted them to consider moving their family out of the area.

“Hearing that kids are on the property with guns, I want to move my kid away from this region as quickly as possible," the unnamed parent admitted.

Another added that concerned parents ought to be furious with the district.

"You should flip out," the parent insisted. "You should be outraged. You should be pissed out of your brain."

Another parent added, "Seattle Public Schools has become less and less about education and more about what's the daily 'popular' political view. The same taxpayer funded 'for the people' institution that banned police because of false BLM narratives, had to call the police after armed trespassers entered school property at least twice. Seattle public schools prioritizes a socialist narrative over the education and public safety of our children."

(H/T: The Police Tribune)

Seattle vaccine mandate could jeopardize public safety as hundreds of police officers face possible termination



Seattle, the liberal city that still pursues defunding police, could lose a significant portion of its police force this month as officers who refuse to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate risk termination.

What are the details?

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) announced in August that all Seattle city employees would be required to be fully vaccinated.

To comply with Durkan's order, city employees, including Seattle police officers, are required to submit proof of COVID-19 vaccination or their exemption from the mandate by Oct. 18. Personnel who fail to provide proof of either risk being fired.

The mandate has put the Seattle Police Department in a bind because, according to KCPQ-TV, 292 sworn personnel have yet to submit proof of vaccination. To compound problems, Seattle PD spokesperson Sgt. Randy Huserik told KCPQ that an additional 111 officers were awaiting decision on exemption requests.

That means, if every exemption request is denied and the remaining officers do not submit proof they are fully vaccinated, the Seattle Police Department stands to lose over 400 sworn officers — or about 40% of the police force.

If that were to happen, Seattle would descend into chaos. The city has already lost more than 300 police officers since 2020 over "defund the police" and anti-police riots, KCPQ noted.

What is the city's plan?

Anticipating that a significant number of officers will be fired, the Seattle Police Department plans to make all sworn personnel available to respond to 911 calls.

More from KING-TV:

There are concerns that response times could suffer due to staffing shortages depending on how many officers face losing their jobs after the Oct. 18 deadline. The department is prepared to activate a stage three mobilization plan on Oct. 13.

Under the plan, all on-duty sworn personnel, like detectives, education and training section employees and people within the department with patrol backgrounds will report to work in uniform and ready to respond to 911 calls if needed.

Still, the Seattle police union is working with the city to find alternative means of compliance that do not require termination for officers not vaccinated against COVID-19.

"Any loss of an officer right now would be detrimental to our city's current public safety crisis," Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, said.

"We would like the city to acknowledge the staffing crisis that we're in, and how detrimental it will be if we lose even 50 officers due to this mandate. There has to be some type of reasonable accommodation, as we've seen in other cities across this nation provide to their community," he added.

Anything else?

While some police departments nationwide risk losing scores of officers, potentially jeopardizing public safety, over vaccine mandates, Democratic Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has said he won't take that risk.

"This issue has become so politicized, there are entire groups of employees that are willing to be fired and laid off rather than get vaccinated," Villanueva said last week. "So I don't want to be in a position to lose 5-10% of my workforce overnight."

Video captures brutal daylight beatdown in Seattle amid crime surge. The victim is reportedly still spitting up blood.



Surveillance video captured an assailant viciously attacking and robbing a man in broad daylight in Seattle, Washington, last month as critics argue the city has nowhere near enough police presence to crack down on soaring crime.

What happened?

The victim, a 22-year-old freelance photographer, was allegedly vacationing in the city when he was beaten unconscious and robbed while walking in the Mount Baker neighborhood. He is reportedly still suffering from severe injuries.

According to Seattle police, the attacker approached the photographer, known on social media as Caliber Visuals, at around 6 p.m. local time. The two appeared to shake hands before things unexpectedly turned violent.

"The suspect then threw the victim to the ground, stomped on him and kicked him repeatedly, knocking the victim unconscious. The suspect then rummaged through the victim's pockets and stole his wallet and keys before walking away," police reported.

NEW: A 22-year-old freelance photographer visiting Seattle was brutally beaten unconscious & robbed in the Mount Ba… https://t.co/vzvpQjy7XW

— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) 1628460231.0

Police added that a bystander later came to the victim's aid by alerting authorities. After medics arrived at the scene, the victim was transported to the hospital, where "he received treatment for head trauma and significant injuries to his face."

In a post on a GoFundMe page he started, the victim claimed that he suffered a brain hemorrhage and a fractured left eye during the assault. He added that four days after the attack he was still "spitting up blood."

The assailant reportedly stole the victim's cell phone, wallet, $900 in cash, and car keys that cost several hundred dollars to replace.

Police are looking for help identifying the attacker, whom they describe as a "Black male, 5'10", 180 lbs., with a medium build."

What else?

Conservative Seattle talk radio host Jason Rantz argued that brazen attacks such as the one against the freelance photographer are becoming more prevalent amid the city's crime surge and defund the police movement.

"Mount Baker is known to have a crime issue, but the city doesn't have enough police to proactively walk, drive, or bike around neighborhoods as a deterrent," Rantz noted in an opinion piece about the attack.

Last month, a couple in Seattle was attacked and beaten with a machete, rocks, and a 5-foot wooden pole while attempting to retrieve stolen items from a homeless encampment. Following that attack, Rantz claimed that police in the city are being prevented from monitoring homeless camps.

A worker near the scene of the latest attack argued that police are being hamstrung and consequently criminals are becoming emboldened.

"It's disheartening to watch this happen around our city, and nothing's being done about it," the worker told KIRO-TV. "It's been going on for years, and it seems to be the city council has let this continue to happen."

"We're tired of this," he added. "There's no reason we should be walking around in fear."

Washington State’s New Laws Handcuffing Police Will Increase Crime And Chaos

The laws make policing less effective. They will likely lead to more suspects being injured — the exact opposite of what Democrats said they intended.