City of Seattle found negligent in deadly 2020 CHOP shooting

[Jose Garcia]

Source: KIRO-TV

The City of Seattle was found negligent for the killing of 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr., who was shot in the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) in 2020, The Post Millennial reported Thursday.

Seattle was found liable for a “state-created danger” after abandoning the Seattle Police Department (SPD) East Precinct, fortifying the zone with barriers, and prohibiting police from entering the area. Plaintiffs argued this allowed violence to escalate and delayed aid to Mays Jr.

The city will have to pay Mays Jr.’s family more than $30 million in damages — $4 million to the estate of Mays Jr. and $26 million to Mays Sr., according to The Seattle Times.

Antonio Mays Sr., Mays Jr.’s father, filed a lawsuit against Seattle in 2022, claiming the city failed to provide emergency services to protesters in CHOP.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/city-seattle-found-negligent-deadly-233002972.html

[MichMan]

1. Surprised the city didn't settle this before it went to trial

After he was shot alongside 14-year-old Robert West, who survived, volunteer protest medics attempted to treat the boys’ wounds. Witnesses called 911, but because first responders wouldn’t come to the zone, they decided to transport the boys via private vehicles. One took West to Harborview Medical Center while another attempted to meet with paramedics outside the zone.

One day after the shooting that killed Mays and injured another teen, then-Mayor Jenny Durkan issued an executive order declaring the protest an unlawful assembly. The following morning, police reentered the zone, cleared encampments and arrested more than 40 people for failure to disperse or on suspicion of obstruction.

At one point during the trial, jurors were shown video of passengers in the vehicle carrying Mays trying to flag down a city ambulance that drove away from them.

City attorneys initially argued that Mays Jr. was committing a felony — that he stole the Jeep — so the city could not be held liable. But King County Superior Court Judge Sean O’Donnell ruled jurors could not consider that defense.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/seattle-chop-verdict-city-must-pay-29-million-to-family-of-slain-teen/