In a surprise announcement yesterday, SPD Interim Chief Adrian Diaz announced that he has overturned a finding by the Office of Police Accountability that a police supervisor violated department policies last June when he ordered a crowd of protesters to be dispersed with blast balls, pepper spray, and tear gas.
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Temporary restraining order on crowd-control weapons extended to September 30 by mutual agreement
Today, by mutual agreement of the attorneys representing Black Lives Matter and the City of Seattle, the temporary restraining order issued by Judge Richard Jones last Friday was converted into a preliminary injunction that will be in place until September 30th.
Continue readingSPD Chief Best authorized non-SWAT officers to use tear gas on May 31
New documents requested by SCC Insight and released by SPD provide details surrounding the authorization for non-SPD officers to use CS tear gas, and show that it was authorized by the Chief of Police herself due to a concern over depletion of other crowd-control equipment.
Continue readingSPD chief bans use of tear gas at protests for next 30 days
After a joint recommendation from the three police accountability groups with oversight of SPD, this afternoon Chief Carmen Best issued an order banning the use of CS tear gas for the next 30 days at events where demonstrators are exercising their first amendment rights.
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