Four protesters jailed for writing anti-police graffiti in chalk on a temporary barricade near a Seattle police precinct have been awarded nearly $700,000 after a federal court jury found their civil rights were violated.
The arrests on January 1, 2021, came in the wake of intense Black Lives Matter protests that swept Seattle and other cities worldwide following the death of George Floyd, a Black man, who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for about 9 1/2 minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and pleading that he couldn’t breathe.
“The tensions of that summer and the feelings that were alive in the city at that time are obviously a big part of this case,” said Nathaniel Flack, one of the attorneys for the four protesters, according to Fox. “And what the evidence showed was that it was animus towards Black Lives Matter protesters that motivated the arrests and jailing of the plaintiffs.”
Derek Tucson, Robin Snyder, Monsieree De Castro, and Erik Moya-Delgado were each awarded $20,000 in compensatory damages and $150,000 in punitive damages when the 10-person jury returned its verdict late Friday.
(Seattle Police Force)
The lawsuit, filed in federal court against the city of Seattle and four police officers—Ryan Kennard, Dylan Nelson, Alexander Patton, and Michele Letizia—claimed the city and officers arrested and jailed the four as retaliation and acted with malice, reckless disregard, or oppression, denying the plaintiffs their First Amendment rights.
Email messages sent Tuesday to the Seattle city attorney’s office, Seattle police, and the police guild seeking comment were not immediately returned.
On New Year’s Day 2021, the four protesters used chalk and charcoal to write messages like “Peaceful Protest” and “Free Them All” on a temporary barricade near the police department’s East Precinct. Body cam images introduced at trial showed at least three police cruisers responded to the scene to arrest the four for violating the city’s anti-graffiti laws.
The four spent one night in jail but were never prosecuted.
Flack said testimony presented at trial showed police don’t usually enforce the law banning the use of sidewalk chalk. Attorneys showed video of officers writing “I (heart) POLICE” with chalk on a sidewalk at another event in Seattle.
Flack noted it was also unusual for the four to be jailed during an outbreak of COVID-19 when only the most serious offenders were to be incarcerated.
“These officers were doing what they called the ‘protester exception,’ which meant that if you’re a protester, if you have a certain message or a certain kind of speech that you’re putting out there, then they will book you into jail,” Flack said.
“The jury not only found that the individual officers were doing that, but that there was actually a broader practice that the city leadership knew about and was responsible for as well,” he added.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said this case should serve as a warning and a lesson to police officers and other government officials across the country who violate the First Amendment rights of citizens.
“This was a content-based and viewpoint-based law enforcement decision that resulted in our clients being locked up for what they had to say,” Flack said. “The important thing here is that the police cannot jail people for the content of their speech.”
