Ok Northwest Posters, What's With Seattle?

[Annie]

Enough links to make one ask, how much time ya got?

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/003404.htm

THE SEATTLE SOLDIER BEATINGS
By Michelle Malkin · August 26, 2005 12:20 PM

I'm continuing to keep a close eye on the outrageous act of barbarism in Seattle committed against three American soldiers (two of whom were beaten unconscious) in Pioneer Square last month by a group of thugs.

KING 5-TV follows up:

The first man is black, 5-feet-11 inches tall, 185 pounds, wearing a white baseball cap, a white T-shirt blue jeans and white shoes.

The second suspect is black, late teens to early 20s, 5-feet-7 inches tall and weighs about 170 pounds. He was in a black T-shirt with "Scarface on it," black pants, and has gold teeth and cornrows.

The third suspect is also black, approximately 6 feet tall, wearing a red baseball cap and a white T-shirt.

If you have any information you are asked to call the Seattle Police Department at 206-684-5550.

I can't believe the politically correct liberals at KING 5-TV (and other area media outlets) allowed detailed suspect descriptions to be broadcast. Good for them. I'm sure the local race hustlers are quite unhappy. (Side note: If this heinous crime had taken place in the D.C. area, the Washington Post would likely have whitewashed the descriptions no matter the risk to the public.)

(Sidenote II: Reader Brian L. writes in, "Regarding the PC police allowing the report to contain the fact the assailants are black...My guess is they allowed it because the victims are also black.")

The lowlifes remain on the loose. Meanwhile, readers and fellow bloggers are asking many of the same questions I have.

Why, for example, did it take so damned long for the Seattle PD to release the video of the beating and suspect descriptions? (Police won't say when they received the video from a tipster.)

And, as depicted in the video released to KOMO-TV, why did at least two bystanders with cameras escape the assailants' wrath and violence?

Rob Port at Say Anything has an interesting theory about a sleazy business that sells videotapes of "real fights" and "ghetto fights" on the Internet. Port writes:

One thing that really makes me think the video taping of this beating was a setup was the way the guy operating the camera was able to walk in amongst the people doing the beating with nothing happening to him. If I were in the middle of committing a crime and somebody was video taping me I’d probably give them a beating too.

One company that distributes this gross "real fights" stuff has a nominal Seattle tie, and Port has been in contact with police about it. I agree with one of Port's commenters that the Seattle address given in the registry may be bogus. But it's worth investigating and Port says the police will be doing that.

Unfortunately, based on my past experience, I don't have much confidence in the Seattle PD and the city leadership. I mentioned the infamous Kristopher Kime beating death the other day, in which p.c. police were ordered to stand down as mobs of black youth rampaged the streets. The Kime family sued and won a large settlement and apology. Here's an excerpt from their lawyers' summary of the case:

In the days leading up to Fat Tuesday, the City made flawed and ultimately fatal command decisions that led to results which will forever haunt the Kime family. Testimony elicited during the criminal trial of Jerell Thomas, newspaper accounts, and internal police documents reveal that the City attempted to abandon its duty to protect the public from harm with catastrophic consequences.

By late Tuesday night, the City was fully aware that gangs had entered the crowd, rampant fighting with throwing of rocks and bottles was occurring. Several people had been mercilessly beaten by Thomas who at one point wielded a skate board to cudgel his victims. Christopher Shirley who went to help a woman under attack was knocked out with the skateboard and awoke with his face split open. The police were not allowed to protect and serve but were ordered to stand by and watch as citizens were brutalized. Mayor Schell had given strict instructions that he was not to be disturbed as he planned on getting a good night’s sleep.

Kris Kime was with his friends in the midst of Pioneer Square, just under the vantage point of the media and police chief. The group of friends became separated. Some of the young women were assaulted. They were in the process of desperately trying to leave when Kris bent over to help a victimized woman who had been knocked to the ground. As he reached out to her, Kris had no idea that Thomas was approaching him from the rear. Massive blows were delivered to the back of Kris’ head and he fell to the ground. Kris’ friend, Connor O’Neal testified that Kris was “blindsided on the head by two punches” from Thomas.

Michelle Breasaw, one of Kris’ friends, saw her boyfriend kneeling next to someone on the ground. “There was bleeding coming from his head, so they flipped him over. It was Kristopher Kime.”

The group of friends and onlookers created a circle around Kris as the mob surged around. A few people tried to kick him.

As he lay dying in the street, the City stood by and did nothing. Friend Louis Dickinson called 911 to get help. The dispatcher explained that the police would not go in to the melee. “He’s hurt bad” Dickinson pleaded. Not giving up, he ran to the perimeter and begged the police directly. In wooden tones they told him that they had heard the dispatch but would not go in. Meanwhile two off duty paramedics came to help and along with a few of the friends were able to drag Kris out of the square. No ambulances or aid vehicles were present, so Kris was placed into the rear of a patrol car and taken to Harborview.


Read the whole thing.

The police brass exhibited similarly incompetent and reckless behavior during the WTO riots in 1999--chaos that then-police chief Norm Stamper blamed on underfunding, rather than his own abject failure to anticipate mass violence.

Finger-pointing was the standard m.o. at the Seattle P.D. when I covered them in the late 1990s. Things don't seem to have changed. Seattle-area reader Charles K. writes this morning that blame-the-victim rhetoric is already being floated:

Thanks for highlighting the savage, animalistic beatings of the two soldiers in Seattle. It came as a shock, but not a surprise, that neither the local police nor the local "media" made any mention of this sick attack until three weeks after the fact. Also, hardly surprising is the comment by the media and the police that the victims should have ignored the groping [MM note: the thugs reportedly groped one of the soldiers' wives] and simply left...

This morning the parents of one of the victims told the "media" that at least one Seattle police officer watched the savagery for some time and did absolutely nothing. Shades of the "Mardi Gras" politically correct inaction by Seattle's finest.

Contrast this with a minor fire and explosion, this morning, at the local NAACP headquarters in the Rainier Valley. Within in seconds of the event, all the media were screaming "HATE CRIME". Over and over...until the fire officials went in and found out that faulty wiring and other neglected conditions were the cause of the damage. Very quiet now.

Anyone want to move to good old friendly, safe Seattle?

Ilyka Damen raises a similar point about hate crime double standards.

Strangely, my old employer, the Seattle Times, has relegated this story to a local digest brief (though, in fairness, the paper does a good job with this Deuce Four follow-up and this positive story.)

These savage beatings--and the action and inaction of the Seattle police department--deserve a lot more coverage than that.