OPA: Seattle officers used improper force with blast balls during protests, injuring 3

SEATTLE — There is another call for policy changes at the Seattle Police Department after bystanders and protesters were caught up in officers’ response to last summer’s violence.

The Office of Police Accountability said SPD indiscriminately used blast balls in at least three cases during protests in early June, and it recommends the department make some changes.

The OPA investigated the violent protests, many of them happening around Cal Anderson Park.

They cited three incidents there last June where SPD officers used blast balls, injuring innocent people.

“Hey, you just can’t be shooting like that, man,” shouted KG Farmer as he recorded video on June 1. OPA said the footage shows what Seattle police did wrong in reaction to protests around Cal Anderson Park.

“You guys are just randomly opening fire on people, man,” Farmer can be heard saying on the video. “What is that?”

It happened to at least three people, including a homeless veteran struck by at least one blast ball. KIRO 7′s Michael Spears was broadcasting live when it happened.

“He was laying down right where the guy in the yellow shirt is,” an eyewitness told Spears that day. “Yes, he was sleeping actually.”

An MSNBC reporter was struck in the arm by a blast ball, as she, too, reported live.

“I was about to get on my knees,” protester Aubreanna Inda said. “And I had my hands up.”

Inda was demonstrating peacefully on her 26th birthday when she was knocked flat by a blast ball that nearly killed her.

“The doctors in the hospital said they lost my pulse four times and that I went into cardiac arrest,” Inda said.

“Yeah, they said I completely flatlined quite a few times,” she continued. “I’d come in and out of consciousness.”

The OPA director said, in all three cases, SPD acted inappropriately.

“We found that there were overhand deployments that were thrown in the vicinity of people without knowing who was around at that time,” Andrew Myerberg said. “And in doing so, they violated SPD policy.”

Now the OPA is recommending SPD prohibit deploying blast balls into crowds, directly at a person’s body or thrown overhand, except in rare, life-threatening cases.

Inda said she hopes SPD gets the message.

“They’ve really shown they can’t be trusted,” she said.

The officer in the MSNBC reporter’s case was given a written reprimand. No decision has been made on the punishment for the officers involved in the other incidents.

SPD has 30 days to respond to OPA.

View video of the incidents compiled by OPA is below.

OPA Investigations Explained: Excessive Force with Blast Balls (Seattle Office of Police Accountability)

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