Public Defender Association Exploring Whether SPD Has Violated Protester Rights

Kelly O

Police surround protesters holding a "die-in" in downtown Seattle on Wednesday.

Staff attorney Patricia Sully at the Public Defender Association (PDA), a public defense firm based in downtown Seattle, says the organization is looking into the constitutionality of Seattle police responses to recent protests. The PDA is exploring whether police tactics used during Seattle's Ferguson-related marches may have "violated protesters' speech and assembly rights," Sully says in a statement.

(The firm's deputy director, Lisa Daugaard, serves on the Community Police Commission and has fought for progressive reforms in policing.)

Specifically, Sully adds, "We are concerned about the police preventing protesters from moving in particular direction and selectively denying access to public space based on political viewpoint. We are also concerned about the use of riot gear, as it chills the protected first amendment activity the large number of people who want to voice their concerns about racially disparate policing and the devaluation of black lives."

The PDA will consider "litigation and other approaches to ensure that people raising issues of racial bias in the justice system have the same freedom to walk the streets and sidewalks and express their views as Seahawks fans after the Superbowl."

And the organization is seeking witness accounts of the protests. If you have something to share, contact her, Sully says.

"They're welcome to explore that," responds Seattle police spokesperson Drew Fowler. "That's what they do... We want to try to work with them as partners to make sure we are doing our policing in a constitutional way."

Protesters have been taking umbrage at how Seattle police have buffeted them towards Capitol Hill and at times blocked them from moving towards downtown's Westlake Center—particularly since Monday night, when Mayor Ed Murray put out a forceful-sounding statement about the demonstrations.