TWENTY-TWO weeks ago today, Seattle Police killed Terry Caver in Lower Queen Anne. Five men with guns surrounded a Black man in the middle of a behavioral health crisis, then shot him.

They should have de-escalated. They should have called a crisis intervention team. They should have done any number of things, but they didn't.

There should be an independent investigation, but there won't be one because of a loophole in state law made just for Seattle Police.

SPD's Force Investigation Team "investigates" their buddies. Then they will present their findings to the Force Review Board, also made of up fellow officers, who will likely exonerate them.

The Force Review Board is secretive. Only cops and the head of OPA can attend. They were supposed to decide "soon" as of two months ago, but we've heard nothing. Media has not asked about their decision.

Seattle needs to turn the investigation over to an independent agency, and it needs to end the loophole. Please tell the mayor & city council.

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We also need the OPA to move swiftly on their own investigation. There are 4 weeks until the police contract imposed deadline to finish. There's a slim chance we get trigger-happy officers out of SPD.

It took OPA twelve weeks to even formally start the investigation (because it was lost in email according to what they told a reporter). Ten weeks later, we've heard nothing. Are they even really investigating?

I hate doing this thread every week, because it feels like failure to me. We're failing Terry Caver. We're failing our homeless population. We're failing people with mental illness. We're failing our Black neighbors.