This image taken from a Seattle Police Department body camera shows part of anti-police graffiti written in chalk on a concrete barricade outside of the East Precinct of the Seattle Police Department, Jan. 1, 2021, in Seattle. On Friday, June 21, 2024, the four protestors who were jailed for the graffiti were awarded nearly $700,000 by a federal jury who decided their civil rights had been violated. (Seattle Police Department via AP)
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By MARK THIESSEN
Updated 3:18 PM CDT, June 25, 2024
Four protesters who were 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 decided their civil rights were violated.
The Jan. 1, 2021, arrests of the four followed the intense Black Lives Matter protests that rocked Seattle and numerous other cities throughout the world the previous summer in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a Black man. He was killed when 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. “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.
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https://apnews.com/article/seattle-protesters-civil-rights-violation-9416b3a031e7ba565a0951471a5a6977
