Protesters injured, killed during demonstrations plan to sue

SEATTLE — A dozen protesters who were injured and families of others who were killed in Seattle during demonstrations filed claims against the city of Seattle, King County, and Washington state.

It is the first step to a lawsuit.

“The problem that we have alleged in all of the cases is the police have escalated each and every situation,” said attorney Karen Koehler of law firm Stritmatter Kessler Koehler Moore.

The claimants allege law enforcement used excessive force against peaceful protesters or failed to protect them.

Koehler’s firm represents most of the clients. That includes the family of Summer Taylor, who was killed when a car drove into a group of protesters on I-nterstate 5 earlyJuly 4.

“It wasn’t blocked enough. It wasn’t shut down,” Koehler said.

Koehler also said police didn't do enough to protect protesters when a car drove into a demonstration on Capitol Hill on June 7. Dan Gregory was shot when he tried to get the driver of the car to stop.

Attorney James Bible represents 7-year-old JoZiah Avery and his father Armand Avery. Avery said both he and his son were sprayed with Mace by Seattle police during a protest March 30.

Bible also represents Nikita Tarver, who said she was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet on March 30.

“Rather than blaming  the victims, the Seattle Police Department should take some accountability,” Bible said.

Taylor’s family also filed a claim against the King County Sheriff’s Office because of disturbing Facebook posts allegedly made by one of its deputies. One of them showed a truck hitting protesters with the words, “All Lives Splatter.” He also allegedly wrote “a couple of people got infected with COVID-19 from the hood of a car on I-5 last night.”

In a statement, Sgt. Ryan Abbott, with the King County Sheriff’s Office, said, “When we were informed, on July 5th, of the meme allegedly posted by one of our deputies, we took immediate action and referred the matter to our Internal Investigations Unit. On Monday, July 6th, Sheriff Mitzi G. Johanknecht ordered an expedited internal investigation and removed the employee from active duty pending results of the investigation.  In addition, employees who may have liked, reacted to or participated in the postings are also being investigated. We have taken this matter seriously and the Sheriff is committed to a thorough investigation.”

“This is part of the bigger issue we are fighting against, which is in favor of the BLM movement, and against excessive force, which is that officers are trained in a very militarized fashion to think everyone is trying to kill them,” Koehler said.

The city of Seattle stated it does not comment on pending claims or litigation. Washington State Patrol also stated it does not comment on pending litigation.

The city, county and state have 60 days to respond to the claims.

Cox Media Group