Raymond Nix was beaten so badly by police officers outside of a Denny Regrade bar that he nearly died four days later from a lacerated spleen. This photo was taken shortly after his July 31, 2003, arrest. (Photo provide by King County Prosecutor's Office) (February 29, 2008)
Anti-Crime Team has a tough reputation -- maybe too tough
Unit racks up most 'obstructing' arrests
By ERIC NALDER, LEWIS KAMB AND DANIEL LATHROP
P-I INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS
Carl Sandidge and his cousin had just finished watching a movie downtown and were walking to a bus stop when an ordinary-looking white guy in a pickup truck yelled something about a flag.
His much taller cousin -- black, like Sandidge -- walked over to the truck to ask what was going on. The guy jumped out and grabbed him, throwing the cousin over the hood of the truck, Sandidge recalled.
Sandidge objected. He was pushed against a wall, received several electric shocks from a Taser, was forced to the ground and, while handcuffed, took a blow to the midsection, all 150 pounds of him.
At 5-foot-9 he has a body made more fragile to violence by the medicine he takes for sickle cell anemia, a potentially fatal hereditary disease.
It was his first scrape with the law in his 22 years. He was arrested for the gross misdemeanor of obstructing a public officer, as well as resisting arrest and assault.
It was also his introduction to the Seattle Police Department's West Precinct Anti-Crime Team, or ACT.
more:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/353202_actmain29.aspPeter Brian's 'obstruction' arrest could be case study
By ERIC NALDER
P-I INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
A big issue at trial was just how Peter Thomas Brian got his head cut open -- badly -- while running from Seattle police officers in Pioneer Square that night.
The cops claimed he hit a wall. That version was in a use-of-force report written just hours afterward.
On the stand, the first officer to reach Brian that night couldn't explain the gash.
Another told jurors he got there too late to see the action.
The officer who might have seen the action best didn't show up to testify, despite a subpoena and dozens of calls from the assistant city attorney prosecuting the case.
A witness who was at the scene testified the cops hit Brian on the head with what looked like a club. A doctor who treated Brian said that was "far more likely" than the cops' version.
more:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/353205_actbrian29.aspBlacks are arrested on 'contempt of cop' charge at higher rate
By ERIC NALDER, LEWIS KAMB AND DANIEL LATHROP
P-I INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS
When Seattle police arrest someone for "obstructing a public officer," chances are nearly dead even they're arresting an African-American -- in a city that's predominantly white.
Once arrested, the accused could spend a night in jail, but the odds are relatively favorable -- as good as a coin toss -- that the prosecutors will drop the case, often as a result of a review the next morning.
In fact, African-Americans are arrested for the sole crime of obstructing eight times as often as whites when population is taken into account, a Seattle P-I investigation of six years of Seattle Municipal Court records and data found.
more:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/353020_obstructmain28.asp