Again, from The Stranger... as you may recall the Seattle Police Department charged Hays with Assaulting an Officer after Hays was first restrained and then repeatedly had his face bounced off the pavement by undercover officers for jaywalking.
The officers claimed Hays had attacked them first after they restrained his friend, for jaywalking, but multiple witnesses have not corroborated the officer's accounts of the arrest. Instead dozens of bystanders seem to insist that Hays and his friend were tackled by the plain-clothes officers and brutally beaten by those officers even after they had been handcuffed for nothing more than, well, jaywalking.
Hays is due in court for assault on an officer on January 22. But, as you can see, it seems that the charges are trumped up as an excuse for the brutal over-reaction by the same group of undercover officers with a history of unprovoked attacks and who have been in the paper numerous times for beating jaywalkers and other assaults where they failed to announce themselves as officers until after the fact, as reported here.
Cases like this prove to me that nobody is safe in Seattle, especially not me. It's clear that the police here are free to attack anyone they want for any reason they want without fear of being held accountable... and worse, that they can punish the people they attack even more afterward by falsifying reports without any fear of being held accountable for it whatsoever.
I wish Hays the best of luck, but historically the SPD gets away with making these kinds of accusations, I hope he's one of the exceptions.
In the meantime, lord save me if the SPD spots me in public... because nobody else in Seattle will when they beat the life out of me.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Hays Case Update
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8 comments:
Wheelchair-bound man in crosswalk hit by a police cruiser then given a ticket.
Keep fighting, more people in Seattle will notice.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, and the article you linked was both very sad and very inspirational. That man went through a lot that he didn't deserve and his attitude despite the police adding to that is amazing.
Unfortunately, Seattle has made it very clear that they don't support me or what I'm trying to do...
But, I'm committed to doing this in many ways, was since I first posted my story. Even if I took it down now the police would still want to punish me again, just for making them look bad for torturing an innocent person the way they did to me.
But, as I said on my other blog, while people world-wide have offered an incredible amount of support, Seattle hates me for whatever reason. Either because I don't support their police department's abuses, or because I'm not good enough at explaining them because of my brain damage.
...in any case, I'll keep it going, so thanks for the word of support. It is greatly appreciated amidst such hatered here in Seattle.
I'm actually from Seattle, I kept noticing your posts on the Slog (like tonight). Your catalog of stories is a nice quick reference I'm sure a Times or PI reporter will use one day when s/he personally become a victim.
Well, then you would be the first person in Seattle who has said so.
That means worlds to me, so thank you for saying so.
There is a long history of people who have worked on this issue, people who themselves have been victims. Possible resources, although some pre-date the popularity of the internet:
CopWatch 206
aahmcc.org
Black Autonomy (a radical zine from the 1990s, but contains factual information about local police misconduct).
On The Take is a good book about police corruption in the 1970s. The SPD even then were used as a political tool to silence dissent.
Google "LEIU" and "Seattle".
The more you dig, the more you will find...and there are plenty that have been in your shoes.
One other is the book about Community Policing in Seattle, which is very spendy at Elliot Bay, but is also at the library.
Thanks for the links, they're keeping me busy and I'll definitely incorporate them into the site changes I'm planning.
It's nice to have people come and point me to new information I didn't find, thank you so much for that.
Hey you got some solid Seattle support from the PI's Sound Off, and those boards are filled with trolls.
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