This morning, the Office of Police Accountability released its first set of “closed case” summaries for five cases lodged against SPD officers related to misconduct during this past summer’s protests — including two incidents from May 30 that went viral on social media. Also: here is my in-depth Q&A with OPA Director Andrew Myerberg, where we touch on the issues raised by these cases, the status of OPA investigations into police misconduct at the protests, and many other topics related to police accountabilty.
Continue readingAuthor: Kevin Schofield
Kevin Schofield is a freelance writer and the founder of Seattle City Council Insight, a web site providing independent news and analysis of the Seattle City Council.
After graduating from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts degree, he worked for Microsoft Corporation for 26 years. That culminated in a term as Chief Operations Officer for Microsoft Research, the division of the company focused on advancing the state of the art in computing. Upon leaving Microsoft in 2014 he decided to embrace his love of writing.
Kevin volunteers at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, where he also serves on the Board of Directors. He is also Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California.
Beyond writing, his personal passions are his twin daughters, photography, cooking, and playing the guitar. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
Q&A with OPA Director Andrew Myerberg
In anticipation of today’s release by the OPA of its first batch of findings from complaints arising from this summer’s protests, OPA Director Andrew Myerberg graciously sat down with me yesterday for an interview. Here is the full interview, lightly edited for clarity. Kevin Schofield: How do you feel that the investigations are going so far? Andrew Myerberg: I think they’re going well. As you can imagine the cases, they kind of range in complexity. Using the pepper spray case for an example, it was an easier case in some respects to start to isolate the video, because there …
Continue readingFriday news roundup
All predictions are that we should have much cleaner air by the end of the day. Hopefully we won’t get fooled again. Here’s the Friday news.
Continue readingThursday news roundup
The recall of Council member Sawant moves forward, scooters are here, and more. Plus we might get some fresh air tomorrow.
Continue readingJudge certifies recall petition against Sawant
After this morning’s hour-long hearing, late this afternoon King County Superior Court Judge Jim Rogers certified four charges in a recall petition against Council member Sawant to be factually and legally sufficient to proceed to the signature-gathering phase of the recall effort.
Continue readingWednesday news roundup
Sawant’s legal bills get paid, and more. Stay inside, stay healthy — and we might get some fresh air on Friday.
Continue readingUnderstanding what happened to Pier 58
Late afternoon this past Sunday a portion of Pier 58, better known as Waterfront Park, collapsed as construction workers were beginning the work to carefully dismantle and remove it. Let’s look at what led to the collapse, where things stand now, and what happens next. UPDATE 9-18-20: The city has now closed the adjacent Pier 57, due to a “condition of imminent danger” from the potential collapse of the remainder of Pier 58.
Continue readingTuesday news roundup
Pier 58, bridges, BLM, and more in the news this morning. Stay inside, stay healthy. We’ll get through this.
Continue readingNotes from today’s Council meetings
Here’s what happened today in Council Chambers (zoom edition).
Continue readingMonday news roundup
This is not turning out to be the clean-air Monday we had all hoped for. Somewhere in there is a joke that ends with “don’t hold your breath…” Here’s the news.
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