June 25, 2024, 2:58 p. m. | Update: 3:21 p. m.
The graffiti on a barricade inside the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” calling for the abolition of the police is an example of the type of protest at issue in this case. (Photo by Tothrough Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket Getty Images)
(Photo via Tothrough Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket Getty Images)
BY BILL KACZARABA
A federal jury in Seattle awarded four anti-graffiti protesters a total of $680,000, adding punitive damages, after finding that Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers violated their civil rights during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The protesters, Derek Tucson, Robin Snyder, Monsieree de Castro and Erik Moya-Delgado, were arrested for writing statements such as “(swearing) to the police” and “peaceful protests” with chalk and charcoal on walls and portable concrete barriers outside. of the department. Ciudad del Este in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.
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Despite the city and county’s prohibition on jailing top offenders due to the pandemic, officials invoked a “protester exception” to incarcerate them in the King County Jail. The incident occurred on New Year’s Day 2021.
According to a Seattle Times report, the jury found that the arrest and detention violated the protesters’ First Amendment rights because they were similar to the content of their speech.
The officials involved were known as Alexander Patton, Dylan Nelson, Ryan Kannard and Michele Letizia. In addition, body camera footage revealed questionable movements among police officers, added a flag supporting former President Donald Trump and kept a fake headstone of a 19-year-old man was killed by police in a bathroom at the police station.
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City officials have been criticized for publicly encouraging nonviolent protests while privately punishing the illegal imprisonment of the same protesters through their police forces. The plaintiffs, dressed in T-shirts with anti-police messages, were on the steps of the federal courthouse when the verdict was announced.
Braden Pence, the Seattle attorney representing the protesters, called the verdict “a victory for free speech. “
“Based on the evidence presented at trial, the jury concluded that the defendants were arrested and jailed the plaintiffs because of the content or viewpoint of their speech,” Pence said in a prepared statement, the Times reported.
Each protester will get $20,000 in compensatory damages from the city of Seattle and $60,000 in punitive damages from officers.
Bill Kaczaraba is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read it here. Follow Bill on X here and email him here.