On April 17, Seattle police officers were videotaped as they stomped on and kicked a Latino man who was already lying face down on the ground. One officer was recorded yelling racist slurs at the man, who was being “questioned” in relation to an armed robbery that had occurred eight blocks away. After officers determined the man had nothing to do with the incident, they let him go, by which time they had become aware of the videographer’s presence.
See the video: http://www.kirotv.com/video/23482801/index.html
The video was not aired publicly in Seattle until May 6. The videographer, Jud Morris, took the tape to his employer KCPQ-TV, a Fox affiliate. However, when he showed the video to executives of KCPQ-TV, Morris was told that the station would not broadcast the video. Eventually, KIRO-TV decided to break the story on May 6.
The victim of the beating, Martin Monetti, 21, a graduate of Franklin High School in Seattle, was interviewed by Morris and one can clearly see a fresh injury on his face from contact with the sidewalk after he was kicked. When he was allowed to stand up, the video shows that he was unsteady on his feet. However, officers did not call an aid car for him, instead encouraging him to rest on the hood of the police car and then letting him go.
Monetti and his family have sought help from El Centro de La Raza, a community organization.
Monetti issued a statement May 13 through his attorney, calling the attack “an unprovoked and illegal physical assault. … Mr. Monetti and his family are upset and very disappointed that members of the Seattle Police Department would engage in this unacceptable conduct.”
Community outrage
The Comite Pro-Amnistia and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have called for the prosecution of Shandy Cobane, the officer shown using racist language, for malicious harassment, a hate crime under state law.
After the tape was aired, Cobane made a public and tearful apology for his words. However, if he was truly sorry for his actions, why didn’t he apologize April 17? And Cobane was not the only cop involved in the incident. Officer Mary Lynne Woollum stomped on Monetti’s leg. Other officers stood by and did nothing while Woollum and Cobane stomped and kicked the detained man. In 2005, Woollum was involved in another serious case of police brutality in which Raymond Nix, a homeless man, was nearly beaten to death by police.
The Seattle ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) called for a protest at police headquarters May 15. Demonstrators carried signs reading “Say No! to Racism” and “Stop Police Brutality.” One woman, Stacia Hawkins, a teacher, came out because a number of her students had experienced similar abuse at the hands of police. The demonstration received coverage from several local television stations.
While police officers watched the demonstration from a van parked across the street and from inside the police headquarters building, pedestrians and people driving by indicated their support for the action with honking horns and thumbs up. One elderly white woman said as she walked by, “They should have fired them just like that!” Cobane and Woollum have been “administratively reassigned” pending the police department’s “internal review” of “possible police misconduct.”
Racism is a serious barrier to the unity needed to fight for what we need—jobs, education, health care, equality, housing and more. Police brutality has a chilling effect, especially in communities of color, by making people afraid to speak out or attend demonstrations for fear of police violence. Racism and police brutality hurt all poor and working people.
Fire and prosecute Cobane and Woollum! Say no to racism and police brutality!
