Seattle police who fired pepper spray, blast balls on BLM protesters violated order, judge says

A federal judge held the Seattle Police Department and the city in contempt of court Monday for violating an order to stop the "indiscriminate" use of pepper spray and pepper-filled "blast balls" during Black Lives Matter protests.

U.S. District Judge Richard Jones reviewed four protests in August and September and found four "clear violations" of a previous order barring police from using force against peaceful protesters. His 27-page order was filed in response to a motion by Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County. 

One violation involved pepper spray and the others involved blast balls, a grenadelike device that explodes and spews pepper gas, which Jones called the most "indiscriminate" of the four less lethal weapons he analyzed.

"SPD has often hurled blast balls into crowds of protestors. In many cases, the accuracy of these baseball-style throws is suspect," Jones wrote, adding that "they pose a greater collateral danger" to peaceful protesters than other projectiles.

Jones cited two instances where officers threw blast balls indiscriminately into crowds of protesters, a violation of the order even if use of force is justified.

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During a protest on Sept. 7, two officers hurled the less lethal weapons into two groups of protesters after a glass broke near the officers' feet. On Sept. 23, an officer who was several rows back from the front of the police line threw a blast ball into a crowd, then immediately turned around, demonstrating a "clear lack of care for where the blast ball landed."

Jones also found four instances where officers’ use of force complied with his order, including after an officer was hit in the head with a bat. He wrote that there was not enough evidence to determine whether all of the other instances presented were compliant or not. 

While the violations found defied the court's order by a "clear and convincing margin," Jones said "deployments generally appear to be more targeted and proportional than before."

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The previous injunction was issued after Jones found that the SPD’s use of tear gas, pepper spray and other crowd-control weapons were unconstitutional and that the department had violated the rights of thousands of Seattle protesters in large, early protests after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.

The police department agreed to restrictions intended to prevent further violations in an initial injunction, and then agreed to refinements – including not targeting reporters and medics – after mass protests in June and July, including the abandonment by police of their East Precinct and the temporary formation of a police-free Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone.

“The use of pepper spray and blast balls against our community is proof that our protests are necessary," Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County said in a statement Monday. "We will continue to defend our rights until we achieve systemic change and accountability. We will not stop.”

Lisa Nowlin, staff attorney for the ACLU of Washington, said in a statement Monday that the group was pleased the court was acknowledging the city’s “repeated violations of court orders and is holding them accountable.”

Detective Patrick Michaud, a spokesman for the Seattle Police Department, told The Seattle Times that the department would not comment on Jones’ ruling because the litigation is pending.

The judge asked plaintiffs to submit briefs with possible sanctions by Friday.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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