By Steve Pomper
Within days of being disgraced by the DOJ, as one of America’s anti-cop troika, as if on cue, the radical Seattle City Council voted 7–2 to override Mayor Jenny Durkan’s veto of an effort to defund the Seattle Police Department (SPD). And this is just one battleground in the multi-front war being fought in this far-leftist bastion. The SPD will now lose 100 officers by the end of the year, while crime skyrockets in the city.
The next item involves the Federal Consent Decree Monitor Merrick Bobb, who is resigning after eight years. On his way out the door, this thoroughly unpleasant man couldn’t resist one last boot into the ribs of SPD officers while they are down.
The Seattle Times summarized Bobb’s conclusions about the myriad protests/riots. “Bobb concluded that SPD and its officers showed ‘inadequate sensitivity’ to the rights of people who showed up to protest peacefully, and to protesters who had been injured.” This anti-cop summary is no surprise from a man who has a penchant for promoting mythologies about the police and justifying government lies.
During an interview, the then-editor of the Seattle police union’s newspaper confronted Bobb. The editor pointed out that the results of a DOJ investigation of SPD officer use-of-force violations were bogus.
Bobb said, “Whatever the correct figure might be, it is not relevant to our task today.” He added, “[T]he settlement agreement embodies best practice… that [should] be implemented regardless of what led up to it,” (The Guardian, August 2013). I guess, even if it “what led up to it” was a lie.
And there’s this lovely item: Aside from removing SPD school resource officers from its campuses, the city is now openly brainwashing its public school children. A teacher, Rachel Shine, at Seattle’s Catherine Blaine K-8 School, in the Magnolia neighborhood, is teaching “pro-riot propaganda.” Shine taught her students instead of the word “riot” use “uprising.” And rather than rioter call them “freedom fighters.” Astoundingly, Shine also encouraged students to donate to “bail funds.”
Next, staying with the kid theme, leftist radicals reacting to one of the many riots, manufactured outrage over something that never occurred. Complainants accused an officer of intentionally pepper spraying a 7-year-old boy. His father apparently thought it was a great idea to bring his son to one of Seattle’s many riots. Maybe he’s homeschooling due to the state’s interminable China Virus lockdown, and this was a field trip. The “incident” sparked some 13,000 Office of Police Accountability (OPA) complaints.
As I understand it, investigators cleared the first officer wrongly accused because he was not the officer involved. The radicals didn’t care; they doxed him anyway. Reportedly, a minimum of five officer body cameras captured the scene and revealed the involved sergeant did not intentionally pepper spray the boy (duh!). Reportedly, video footage showed a female rioter attempting to wrestle away an officer’s baton.
A sergeant saw the woman assailing the officer and shot pepper spray at her. SPD OPA says the video shows the female ducked, and the spray deflects off her head and inadvertently gets the little boy. Video also shows the boy’s father had moved with his son to a position directly behind the suspect, apparently placing his child in jeopardy. It’s heartbreaking to watch that little boy crying, but that’s on his father who should be charged with child endangerment—in my humble opinion.
Last, and the weirdest item, Seattle has hired an employee that illustrates the insanity of the officials running Seattle. Related to the “defund the police” efforts of the city council, the New York Post reported Seattle has hired a former pimp for a newly created position “to offer ‘alternatives to policing’” and de-escalation techniques.
So, what qualifications does this new employee have that so impressed the city? Well, aside from allegedly having “recruited girls as young as 16 for wealthy clients” in Vegas, not much. But he also, reportedly, got one of those girls pregnant. The Post wrote, “Seattle now has on its payroll a convicted pimp who once vowed to ‘go to war’ with the city.” And what is the city paying this uniquely qualified man known as a “Street Czar?” $150,000.
Andre Taylor gained notoriety after police, during an undercover narcotics investigation, shot and killed his brother, Che Taylor, after he reached for a gun. Reportedly, the felon who was legally prohibited from possessing a firearm had a gun on his right hip. A witness corroborated the police account. Investigators also found drugs in Che Taylor’s car.
As has become customary in recent years, family and community activists lauded the convicted felon as some sort of saint. In reality, as reported by BearingArms.com, Che Taylor (aka. Marvin R. Hunter) had spent 22 years in prison for ‘rape, robbery, and assault, and “he was under supervision by the state Department of Corrections….”
Now, I will concede the emotional strain of family members at such a stressful time, mourning the loss of a loved one. However, Taylor went a bit far. Seattle’s newest employee once said about police officers, “Officers are trained to shoot to kill, especially if it’s a black man. They have no regard for life.” Nice pick, Mayor Jenny. Congratulations on who I’m sure will receive a plaque from you as Seattle’s next employee of the year.
One additional note: As I write this, last night there was yet another Seattle riot. During the melee, a black-clad rioter ran up behind an SPD bike officer and smashed him in the head with a baseball bat. Yes, this is attempted murder. Police are searching for the suspect, but they cannot count on Seattle’s media for assistance, as they have been refusing to share their video with SPD. The blow cracked bike cop’s helmet, but fortunately, it saved the officer from more serious injury.