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Brutality on Broadway

author: Victor Pickard
May 19, 2001 12:56

On Thursday night, passersby on Broadway witnessed what appeared to be a clear case of racial profiling and use of excessive force by Seattle police.

A police officer badly beat a black motorist Thursday on Capitol Hill, apparently without provocation.

At around 8:30 p.m., a Seattle police officer stopped the driver on Broadway about 20 yards from Dick’s hamburger stand.

The white officer, obviously nervous according to one witness, approached the maroon car.

“Roll down your window,” he yelled.

The driver tried to explain to the officer that he couldn’t comply. “My window is broken and won’t roll down,” the driver said. “And you won’t let me open the door.”

That’s when the officer jerked the door open. The driver raised his hands defensively, and the officer struck him in the mouth with the back of his closed fist.

Then the officer dragged the man from the car as two other officers rushed to help him.

A crowd gathered on the sidewalk, as the officer repeatedly punched the man, then threw him to the street and handcuffed him.

The crowd obviously was disturbed by the officer’s show of what many on the scene considered unnecessary force.

“The Gestapo strikes again,” one witness said.

Another bystander was more confrontational. “This is why everyone hates you,” he shouted at the officers.

More officers arrived at the Broadway location, blocking traffic with their squad cars. They emerged with weapons drawn although the handcuffed, bloodied motorist posed no threat. He was forcefully pinned to his car by several officers and frisked.

“I don’t have any weapons. I don’t have any drugs. I don’t have a criminal record,” the man shouted as blood streamed from his mouth, staining his chin and neck. “You haven’t even said why you’re pulling me over.”

As police officers placed their prisoner in a cruiser and prepared to drive him to an uncertain fate, witnesses continued to express their outrage.

“This is what happened in L.A. and Cincinnati,” one man said.

Someone else answered, “This is what happens when you're a black man in America.”

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