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I would like to ask everyone who follows me to please read and retweet this thread about Charleena Lyles, a pregnant 30-year-old Seattle woman (and already mother of three) who was murdered by Seattle Police Officers three years ago today.
Everyone should know Charleena's story.
Everyone should know Charleena's story.
Charleena called 911 to report a burglary in her home on June 18, 2017. The police report states that when officers arrived, her one-year-old and four-year-old were "crawling on the floor." Her older child was in the next room.
At the time of her death, Charleena weighed barely 100 pounds, even though she was 4 months pregnant. She was tiny, 5'3". The initial two minutes of the officers' recordings were polite, until the officers say that Charleena "had a knife."
They responded by shooting her 7 times. Two bullets went through her back, one each into her chest, hip and right arm, and two through her pregnant belly, perforating her upper midline uterus, causing her fetus to detach from its amniotic sac and protrude into her abdomen.
The officers claimed that Charleena had "lunged at them" with her knife. But then how did two bullets wind up going through her back? And how on earth is a 100-pound pregnant woman with a knife threatening enough to deserve lethal force... EVER???
The audio recordings show that neither officer issued a single warning before firing. A later investigation found that one officer had violated SPD policy by failing to carry a taser.
At the time of her murder, Charleena had been suffering w/ mental health issues. A victim of domestic violence, Seattle PD was aware of her circumstances as they had been to her apartment 23 times in 18 months. Her family knew she was terrified of having her children taken away.
Charleena's family sued the two officers who killed her for failing to de-escalate and follow proper training. A judge threw that lawsuit out of court, saying that because Charleena had called 911, she had "lured" the officers to her apartment herself.
Their lawsuit being thrown out means that not only has the family not received a settlement from the city (yet), but that they are also now out the court costs and legal fees required to bring that suit to court in the first place.
Last year, the King County Executive issued an order allowing investigations to take place into how officers are trained, so that families of those killed by officers can understand how and why such incidences occur at a department-wide, policy level. https://mynorthwest.com/1446278/king-county-opens-inquest-into-seattle-police-shooting-of-charleena-lyles/
These inquiries and investigations have been stopped, however, by lawsuits filed against the Executive Order by smaller cities that are also in King County: Auburn, Federal Way and Kent, as well as by the King County Sheriff's Office. https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/protests/king-county-calls-for-cities-to-drop-lawsuits-against-police-inquest-process/281-72ac1609-b737-4642-b4fc-6727c8dac8ce
Those police departments don't want investigations happening into their own departments.
At the time of Charleena's murder, Seattle was one of several PDs around the country under a federal consent decree (an agreement with the justice department in which the PD doesn't have to admit wrongdoing) b/c of problems with racial bias, excessive force and accountability.
Those of you not in Seattle who see what has happened here on the news, and how protesters have taken over the area surrounding the East Precinct, need to understand that the horror of what happened to Charleena is just one example of Seattle PD terrorizing its own citizens.
Three months after Charleena was murdered, I was at a stoplight at 1am when I was hit by a cop. A line of five cop cars had turned around me (I was in the left turn lane) and the middle car cut too close and hit my front bumper, both driver side doors and rear bumper.
They had been responding to an emergency with lights on, but no sirens, since it was 1am. So I didn’t know they were coming around the corner and to get out of the way.
The response to them causing an accident against me was stunning.
I was a white grad student. drive a Prius. They hit me in my own neighborhood, Madison Park, the wealthiest area in Seattle.
(Photos for proof.)
I was a white grad student. drive a Prius. They hit me in my own neighborhood, Madison Park, the wealthiest area in Seattle.
(Photos for proof.)
The Sergeant for the East Precinct -the very precinct that now sits abandoned- left his office at 1:30 am to come talk to me in person because he wanted to "assure me that the department would fix their damage" and that everything would be handled properly.
For a car.
For a car.
They cared so much about fixing my "property." A group of four PD office men insisted on giving me a ride home, even though I was just a 5 minute walk from my apt in the safest neighborhood in the city.
And I had my settlement check for my "damage" within a week of the accident.
And I had my settlement check for my "damage" within a week of the accident.
Yet we are now THREE YEARS LATER after the MURDER of Charleena Lyles and her family still doesn't have answers. And their attempts to have even a tiny slice of justice for their murdered loved one have been killed.
I have my check from Seattle PD for my stupid car. And an apology. I didn't even have to ask to get those things.
Yet when it involves the life of a human being -KILLED IN FRONT OF HER CHILDREN WHO CRAWLED ON THE FLOOR NEARBY- the department goes silent. And lawsuits are filed to fight an investigation. And we're told to just accept that "cops' jobs are hard."
The SYSTEM is the problem. The system is bad and cannot be fixed. It needs to be torn down. Defunded. Dismantled. Abolished. Money sent to social programs and other things that actually benefit those paying taxes and living in the area.
Public safety does NOT mean "police" unless you are WHITE.
White in the way that I am, so that the cops bend over backwards to fix a car that they smashed. Yet don't give a shit about a black life that they stole.
#DefundPolice #DefundSPD #abolishTheSystem
White in the way that I am, so that the cops bend over backwards to fix a car that they smashed. Yet don't give a shit about a black life that they stole.
#DefundPolice #DefundSPD #abolishTheSystem
Charleena Lyles. Say HER name.
https://twitter.com/goldsteinstreet/status/1277413249730793474?s=21 https://twitter.com/GoldsteinStreet/status/1277413249730793474
https://twitter.com/goldsteinstreet/status/1277413249730793474?s=21 https://twitter.com/GoldsteinStreet/status/1277413249730793474
If any of you are devastated by this case, Charleena's cousin Katrina has been taking care of her children. Her Venmo is @ Katrina-Johnson-182. I have verified this personally with Katrina.
