This is an update to my diary about the police shooting of John Williams a Native American Mater Woodcarver last August in Seattle.
A lot of new information has come to light since the shooting including the facts that the knife Williams was carrying had a blade was of legal length, and the knife was found with the blade in a closed position, each contradicting previous police claims to the contrary. Now the police car dash cam video is available, and it shows only a few seconds elapsing between officer Ian Birk's first request to Williams to stop, and a volley of five shots in rapid succession that killed Williams on the spot. Williams was also deaf in one ear.
Following the shots you can hear a witness shouting at officer Birk that Williams wasn't doing anything wrong.
The Seattle Police Department didn't want to have the dashcam video released.
In October a preliminary finding called the shooting unjustified.
Woodcarver's shooting by SPD officer ruled not justified in preliminary finding
Seattle Police Chief John Diaz and the department's Firearms Review Board have reached a preliminary finding that an officer's fatal shooting of woodcarver John T. Williams on Aug. 30 was not justified, according to sources familiar with the case.
Diaz and the board will make a final determination after the completion of a pending court inquest into the shooting.
In response to the recent rash of high profile cases of excessive force by Seattle Police officers, earlier this month the Washington chapter of the ACLU called for a federal probe of Seattle Police violence.
Times: ACLU cites violence, distrust, urges federal probe of Seattle PD
"Distrust of the police by communities of color grows as a result, and it becomes harder for the Seattle Police Department to do its job of keeping all Seattle residents safe," says a six-page letter sent Thursday to the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C., and U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan in Seattle.
The letter, signed by the ACLU and 34 community and civil-rights organizations, asks the Justice Department to investigate whether Seattle police have violated the civil rights of suspects, particularly minorities, during a series of violent confrontations in the past 18 months.
Here is my original diary from September 3rd.
Rookie Cop shoots Dididaht Master Wood Carver 4 times killing him
Fri Sep 03, 2010 at 02:07:48 AM PST
On Monday afternoon a rookie Seattle Police officer shot Dididaht Master Wood Carver John Williams four times killing him. Williams had been whittling with a three inch knife on the street. According to police the officer told Williams three times to drop the knife, Williams didn't, and started toward the officer, before being shot FOUR times in the chest from a range of 10 ft, killing him.
Here is a protest of the shooting from three months ago, with hundreds of people taking part.
The inquest hearing is set to start on January 20th. I hope the Justice Department is giving the Washington ACLU's request serious consideration.