by Paul Faruq Kiefer
(This article originally appeared on PubliCola and has been reprinted under an agreement.)
On the morning of Thursday, Sept. 18, a Seattle Municipal Court judge approved a motion by Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes to quash all outstanding warrants for misdemeanor prostitution, including some issued well over a decade ago.
Continue reading Court Approves City Attorney’s Motion To Clear Outstanding Prostitution Warrantsby Paul Faruq Kiefer
(This article was previously published at PubliCola and has been reprinted with permission.)
The former Seattle police officer who condemned city leadership for abandoning the Seattle Police Department in a CBS news segment on Wednesday left SPD with a record of harassment and violent outbursts, one of which drew condemnation — but not criminal charges — from City Attorney Pete Holmes in 2013. In his appearance, Powell blamed the Seattle City Council for the exodus of 260 officers from SPD in the past year and a half, and claimed city leaders “didn’t allow [officers] to intervene” to prevent violence during last summer’s protests.
Continue reading Former SPD Officer Featured in CBS Report Has a ‘Troubled’ Historyby Paul Kiefer
(This article was originally published by PubliCola and has been reprinted under an agreement.)
The Washington State Court of Appeals issued a ruling on Monday, April 5, upholding the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) 2016 decision to fire Officer Adley Shepherd for punching a woman while she was handcuffed in the back of a patrol car.
After then-Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole announced she was firing Shepherd, Shepherd and his union, the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild (SPOG), appealed her decision to an arbitrator — in this case, an attorney who can approve, adjust, or overturn disciplinary actions for police officers. In 2018, the arbitrator sided with Shepherd, directing SPD to rehire him and offer back pay.
But Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes stood by Shepherd’s firing, asking the King County Superior Court to vacate the arbitrator’s decision — a rare challenge to the authority of arbitrators in police disciplinary cases, whose decisions are typically final. The Superior Court agreed with Holmes; after another appeal by SPOG, so did the Court of Appeals.
Continue reading Court Upholds Firing of SPD Officer Who Punched Handcuffed Woman
