Rewarding bad behavior? Seattle pays $10 million settlement to protesters involved in 2020 riots

SEATTLE, WA- If you trespass at the US Capitol in Washington, DC., you get years in prison. If you participate in violent riots over the death of a career criminal and drug addict, you get a hefty payday. 

National Review reports that the city of Seattle has decided to pay $10 million to settle a lawsuit brought by 50 “protesters” who claimed they were injured by Seattle police who used “excessive force” during the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots. 

In justifying this abomination, the city attorney, Ann Davidson, called the settlement “the best financial decision for the City considering risk, cost, and insurance,” as reported in the Seattle Times. 

‘The case has been a significant drain on the time and resources of the City and would have continued to be so through an estimated three-month trial that was scheduled to begin in May,” Davidson said in a statement. The settlement involves no admission of wrongdoing by the city. 

A New York Post article from 2020, however, showed that some 60 Seattle police officers were injured over a one-weekend period in July after clashes with anti-police rioters. 

“Officers are recovering from protests yesterday where they were struck with explosives, rocks, bottles, and wood,” the Seattle Police Department’s public affairs division wrote after the riots. 

“In all, 59 officers were injured throughout the day, with one of those being hospitalized. Injuries ranged from abrasions and bruising to burns and a torn meniscus.” 

There is no evidence that Seattle police officers received any monetary compensation from Black Lives Matter or Antifa for injuries they received. 

In the case of the lawsuit settlement, Davidson said her office reviewed a number of interactions between police and those participating in the riots, which included over 10,000 videos and more than a million pages of records. In defending the city, Davidson’s office argued that riot participants “assumed the risk” of being injured by police when they decided to engage in riotous behavior, with that argument being rejected by (a no doubt far-left) Judge Sandra Widlan, court records said. 

An attorney representing the “protesters,” Karen Koehler, claimed her clients “were engaged in a First Amendment speech and activity against the very police brutality which they were met with,” the Seattle Times wrote. 

“Historians should review what we collected and write the true story of the shameful behavior of our city against the peaceful protesters,” Koehler said during a news conference at the King County Courthouse. Koehler, who appeared to be rather emotionally involved in representing the violent protesters, further said the city should have said, “‘We’re sorry that we were punks and brutalized peaceful protesters.” 

That statement, of course, begs the question–if the protesters were indeed “peaceful,” how did dozens of police officers get hurt in that and subsequent “protests?” 

The riots in the summer of 2020 started after George Floyd, a career criminal who was under the influence of methamphetamine and fentanyl, died in the custody of Minneapolis police.

A carefully edited video of the interaction with Floyd, which didn’t cover the entire incident, went viral, showing Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin appearing to kneel on Floyd’s neck. Subsequent videos appeared to show Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s shoulder area.

However, despite conflicting video evidence and conflicting interpretations of Floyd’s autopsy, Chauvin and three other officers were convicted in his death and sentenced to prison. 

Floyd’s death sparked a summer of violent protests in cities across the country, including Seattle. 

According to Seattle police, they used standard techniques to deal with often violent protesters, including flash-bang grenades, foam-tipped projectiles, and “blast balls,” otherwise known as pepper balls, that disperse pepper gas upon contact. Police said they were “under-equipped” and “under-supported” to deal with the violent protests. 

For example, in 2021, Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan told Fox News:

“Morale is not good, and that’s because we don’t have the political support from our elected officials…as we’re seeing officers flee this area, it’s the direct result of that lack of political support.” 

Last February, the Seattle Times reported that since 2020, the Seattle Police Department has lost 515 officers, only hiring 190 replacements, a net loss of 325. Two city council members told a hearing at the time that morale in the department was low. 

“There’s a real skepticism from front-line officers.” 

The city of Seattle deciding to reward lousy behavior against its officers by paying out $10 million will do nothing to ease that skepticism.