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A wild legal thing happening: DOJ just asked for a restraining order to halt Chief Best& #39;s directive banning officers from using pepper spray, tear gas, etc. — which she did because the council banned them. Basically, DOJ wants her to ignore the ordinance. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7002908-19719207776.html">https://www.documentcloud.org/documents...
Tl;dr:
- Council bans tear gas, blast balls, etc.
- Chief Best, begrudgingly, gives the order to officers.
- DOJ asks federal judge to halt Best& #39;s order because they say it violates the consent decree.
"There is no city ordinance exception to the terms of the Consent
Decree."
- Council bans tear gas, blast balls, etc.
- Chief Best, begrudgingly, gives the order to officers.
- DOJ asks federal judge to halt Best& #39;s order because they say it violates the consent decree.
"There is no city ordinance exception to the terms of the Consent
Decree."
There are a lot of legal maneuvers happening here that I& #39;m not smart enough to understand
There are two parties in an agreement to reform SPD: The DOJ and Seattle. Seattle asked the judge to review the council& #39;s ban on CCW (but not for a restraining order) and he said no. Now, DOJ wants a restraining order — not against the ban, but its implementation by chief Best.
Important to note that this is only a motion, it hasn& #39;t been granted. I could take a guess about what Judge Robart will do, but that would be dumb because he& #39;s pretty unpredictable.
This is all very weird because Carmen Best would very much like the judge to issue a restraining order against her!
Also should be noted: This is not related to federal agents ability to use tear gas because they are not bound by the ban that the DOJ is trying to stop from taking effect.
Hearing happening now on the restraining order.
