by Carolyn Bick
In early 2021, a group of protesters was arrested for writing in chalk on walls and a concrete barrier outside the Seattle Police Department (SPD) East Precinct. The protesters were connected with the protest movements that swept the country starting in late May 2020, following the murder of George Floyd. They were subsequently booked into the King County Jail in a process that appeared to fly in the face of established COVID-19 booking protocols — apparently at the behest of high-ranking officials within the City of Seattle and law enforcement.
From this incident, a wrongful-arrest case was born. On May 10, Western District of Washington Judge Marsha Pechman ruled in summary judgment that the specific decision to book protesters in the first place was due to a “City policy or practice to discriminate against anti-police protestors.”
Continue reading SPD Booked Protesters in 2021 Due to ‘City Policy’ To Discriminate Against Anti-Police Protesters, Judge Rules