A confrontation with a Seattle police officer was caught on a cellphone camera on Monday. As you can see in the included video, it shows a woman, 19, reacting hysterically to being subdued by Officer Ian P. Walsh. Another young woman, 17, intervenes and tries to separate the officer from the other woman. At the :13 mark of the cellphone video, the officer then punches the 17-year-old girl in the face.
The woman first being detained is then seen continuing to struggle, and a crowd gathers to watch and record the conflict with their own cellphones and cameras. There is no other officer seen assisting Walsh.
The incident began when Walsh spotted a man jaywalking near Martin Luther King Junior Way South. While speaking with the man, Walsh noticed four women also jaywalking and told them to come over to his police car, a department statement said.
The report went on to state: They were verbally antagonistic toward the officer. One female subject turned and began to walk away. The officer again instructed her to step over to his car. She continued to walk away and appeared to raise her hand in a dismissive gesture. The officer contacted the female subject and began escorting her back toward his car. The female subject began to tense up her arm and pull away from the officer while yelling at him. Once at the patrol car the female subject refused to obey the officer’s commands to place her hands on the car.
What provoked Walsh’s punch? “The second female subject placed her hands on the officer’s arm, causing the officer to believe she was attempting to physically affect the first subject’s escape.”
The 19-year-old girl was booked for investigation of assault on an officer, police said. The 17-year-old girl was booked for obstructing an officer, and both suspects were cited for jaywalking.
Assistant Chief of the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild Nick Metz recently said at a press conference about the incident, “Let’s face it, force never looks good. It’s never pretty. You have to take into context everything that occurred from the point the officer made contact with the individuals up to the time the situation ended.”
Rich O’Neill with the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild said Walsh’s reaction was “an appropriate use of force.” He went on to say, “This officer was surrounded by an ever growing group that was starting to form. This could have been a tragedy.” He added, “For people to call this some sort of police brutality or racist incident is wrong.”
Seattle Urban League CEO James Kelly believes the punch was an overreaction, similar to a video shot on April 17 showing two Seattle officers kicking a Hispanic suspect.
Walsh remains under investigation and the incident has been referred to the department’s Office of Professional Accountability for review.
