Seattle police union says city leaders abandoning officers

SEATTLE — The Seattle Police Officers Guild is calling on the City Council to take action.

Body camera video shows the dangers officers faced during a violent protest Sunday night.      

They accuse city leaders of abandoning them.

The officer's union leader said no one from the City Council called to inquire about the officers injured that night.

And he believes had they not stood their ground Sunday night, their union headquarters here in SODO would have been destroyed.

This is how Sunday night's violence looked to the officers working to quell the protesters' fury.

Officers were forced to dodge fireworks, bottles, rocks and even umbrellas the protesters were hurling their way.

"Criminal actors who were committed to burning this building down," said Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild.

He said the violent protesters who marched to the union headquarters Sunday night were bent on destroying the union headquarters and hurt the officers it represents.

"They tried to burn a police vehicle," he said. "They tried to breach the window, and they failed. Miserable attempt. And they tried to burn it. They tried to throw an incendiary device inside of it."

Still, he said the officers, even with their ranks thinned, did not retreat.

"Small numbers," he said, "(Still) they were able to push back an unreasonable mob away. But six cops were hurt, two hospitalized.  One almost lost an eye."

Some of the 18 people arrested in the melee began making court appearances.  Most of them face charges of third -degree assault for allegedly fighting, punching and/or resisting officers who tried to take them into custody.

But Solan said the union's main beef is with the City Council, which has already cut more than $3 million from the police department's budget with no input from department representatives.

"And I've yet to hear one City Council person publicly, let alone decry those criminal acts," said Solan, "let alone show compassion and concern for the officers who are serving this community brilliantly."

KIRO 7 reached out to the City Council for comment. But no reaction was forthcoming by the time the story aired.

Cox Media Group