Seattle police arrested and jailed four people who used chalk and charcoal to write political statements in front of the department’s East Precinct in 2021, overriding King County Jail policies against booking nonviolent offenders at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a federal lawsuit.
The civil-rights complaint alleges officers violated the young protesters’ constitutional rights and challenges the legality of Seattle’s ordinance outlawing graffiti, alleging police selectively enforce the statute and often tolerate “politically neutral and pro-government chalking” while citing or arresting those whose views they don’t agree with.
The lawsuit alleges officers arrested and booked into jail Derek Tucson, a Seattle man, for writing the words “peaceful protest” the evening of Jan. 1, 2021, on barriers constructed outside the SPD’s East Precinct on Capitol Hill, which had been a focal point of Black Lives Matter protests after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis officers.
Commenti