An SPD Report Says Two Seattle High School Protesters Assaulted Officers. This Video Challenges That Narrative.

Hundred of Seattle Public Schools students protested in downtown Seattle on Nov. 14, 2016. ASK

A week after Donald Trump was elected to serve as president, hundreds of Seattle Public Schools students walked out of class to protest the hatred, racism, and misogyny normalized during his campaign. Students flooded into Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson Park in the afternoon and eventually marched into downtown, where they stayed well into the evening.

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Two of those protesters were Zora Seboulisa and Carlos Ayala, both 18-year-old seniors at Nova High School. While walking down the 2100 block of Fourth Avenue, Seboulisa, who is a trans-woman, and Ayala were arrested for allegedly assaulting officers. After more than a month of preliminary hearings in King County Superior Court, their trial has been set for March 29.

A Seattle police report, which misgenders Seboulisa, alleges that she "squared up" at an officer and “tackled Officer [Scott] Luckie, who was still riding his bicycle, to the ground" and elbowed Officer Adam Merritt.

But live video footage taken from a shared KOMO and KING 5 news helicopter tells a different story. Here's the video, which was broadcast live at the time and does not include audio:

Seboulisa, who is wearing a brown shirt and khaki pants, can be seen walking at the front of the march alongside her girlfriend, Clare Morwell, who is wearing a bright blue jacket. SPD officers riding bicycles flank the marching protesters on both sides.

Around the 0:19 mark, Seboulisa walks towards the line of SPD bike officers with her hands outstretched and stands in front of them, in what looks like an attempt to block the officers from moving forward. One officer, whose identity is still not known, can be seen running into Seboulisa with their bike. (It is not clear whether the officer intentionally ran into Seboulisa or was unable to stop in time.) Next, the officer grabs Seboulisa and pushes her backwards into a nearby construction barricade. Another officer then grabs Seboulisa from the side and pushes her to the ground while several other officers pile onto her and another sprays pepper spray into the crowd.

The Stranger tried to speak with Seboulisa about the incident, but she was advised by her attorney, Lee Edmond, not to speak to the press. Edmond agreed to speak with us in her stead after a hearing in King County Superior Court on Jan. 9.

“My impression is that the video shows my client stepping in front of a police officer's bicycle and then having that officer viciously tackle her [and] throw her into the wall,” he said.

“I've spoken to the prosecutor about it, but the prosecutor says that she doesn't quite see that,” said Edmond. “That's fine. That's why we've set it for trial. Let's see what a jury has to say.”

In a follow up phone call, Edmond added: "The state has been unwilling to make a plea offer to date."

Lindsey Grieve, the King County prosecuting attorney representing the State of Washington, did not return calls or e-mails for comment the week of Jan. 9. Casey Parks, the prosecutor who's taking over the case from Grieve, also did not respond to more recent requests for comment.

Seboulisa’s mother, Nandi, who watched the video a dozen times while we sat together in a small courtroom during one of the pre-trial hearings, described the video as “heartbreaking.”

“I don’t think it would ever take five or 10 police officers to stop Zora from doing anything, especially when her arms are straight out to her sides,” she said. “She just looked like a little rag doll being thrown around by the police.”

Nandi Seboulisa also said the officers shoved her daughter’s girlfriend, Clare Morwell, away from the scene “as though they didn’t want it to be seen.”

The SPD report states that Ayala, the other 18-year-old senior at Nova, was arrested for trying to intervene in Seboulisa’s arrest and for assaulting Officer David Harrington and other officers “by pushing them with both hands and grabbing their arms trying to push them out of the way or to the ground.”

The police report continues:

S/AYALA assaulted several Officers who had moved between him and S/SEBOULISA. S/AYALA assaulted them by pushing them with both hands and grabbing their arms trying to push them out of the way or to the ground. Officer Harrington was one of the Officers being assaulted and began trying to arrest S/AYALA. Officer Harrington and others were still trying to hold onto their bicycles and to S/AYALA but were tripping and stumbling because S/AYALA was still pushing them. It appeared that if S/AYALA continued to assault the Officers in that manner that one or more of the Officers would fall to the ground and become injured. S/AYALA was eventually taken into custody for investigation of assault. During the arrest of S/AYALA, he got on top of Officer Harrington and he grabbed Officer Harrington by the vest and also grabbed Officer Harrington's pepper spray and gun holster. It required several Officers to overpower and arrest S/AYALA. While taking S/AYALA into custody Officer Harrington received an injury to his left leg, a cut and abrasion. During both arrests the marchers attempted to surround Officers and were no longer marching instead concentrating on Officers.

It is difficult to make out Ayala in the above video, because he is wearing a black hoodie. But around the 0:30 mark, you can see someone pushing forward through a crowd of protesters as Seboulisa is being arrested. As Ayala tried to push through the crowd, the video shows he and other protesters being pepper sprayed in the face. Naomi Strand, Ayala's attorney, believes the video shows a group of officers then pushing through the crowd and, in a blur, moving Ayala across the street away from his friend and bringing him down to the ground.

“[The video] does seem to show [Ayala] going towards Zora and then being tackled by police,” said Strand. “The [police report] states that he directly attacked a police officer. What I think you can also see is that there are many people there and that Carlos was the only one arrested.”

We do not see Ayala get on top of an SPD officer, grab their vest, or grab for their pepper spray and gun holster, as stated in the SPD's arrest report. Around the 2:35 mark, we see SPD officers bring Seboulisa and Ayala to their squad cars.

When called for comment, SPD public information officer Sgt. Sean Whitcomb told The Stranger that neither he nor officers could comment on an active investigation.

In a follow up phone call to the SPD, Detective Mark Jamieson said he could not speak to the facts of the case, but offered a hypothetical scenario: If a protester blocked the way of an SPD bike officer, their crime could be considered "obstruction or assault, depending on the circumstances."

"Ultimately," Jamieson said, "it would be up to the prosecutor or the city attorney to decide what their charge is and whether it's a felony or a misdemeanor."

In an e-mail to The Stranger Edmond noted that "a review of the discovery reveals that the 'injured' officers were Harrington, Luckie and Meritt, with Didier leading the pack ... and [Michael] Eastman submitting the reports." (Jamieson explained that he could not confirm the names of victims in an on-going case.)

This story has been updated to include the names of the officers included in the Seattle Police report, which were previously redacted. h/t to Mike O'Dell for the less redacted report.