Seattle Settled Lawsuit Over Its Handlin of Chop by Paying $3.65 Including $600,000 For Deleting Thousands of Texts

 

When in protest to the death of George Floyd protestors in Seattle occupied a portion of Capitol Hill
After a week of violent demonstrations against the police marked on June 7 of a civilian driving into the crowd at a protestor shot to kill
Mayor Durkan in a vain effort to deescalate
Ordered the police to their Precinct Station vacate
Protestors moved in and created the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone
Like the “Summer of Love” behind barricades Mayor Durkan intoned
But at night in CHOP anarchy and violence roamed
And residents living near or in were afraid to leave their homes
More and more the “Summer of Love” became the “Summer of Looting”
Punctuated at night by shootings
Finally on July 1 Durkan said “enough is enough and police moved in
To clear the protestors out and the encampment structures and possessions tossed into trash bins
Business owners and residents in CHOP sued the city for its handling of CHOP
Claiming the city effectively authorized the protestors actions instead of trying to stop
The city has just announced its obligation to pay plaintiffs $3.65 million in settlement
Which includes 600 grand in penalties for thousands of texts the Mayor, Police Chief and city leaders to the cyber space trash bins sent
Sadly Seattle has confirmed Watergate that the coverup is more costly than the crime
Hopefully cities around the nation confronted with similar protests will not ape Seattle this time

© 2/25/2023 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet