The Goldmark Murders

Excerpts From Ann Rule's Book, You Belong To Me

It was December 26, 1985 at 1:07 p.m. when the suspect began to talk, fully aware that a tape recorder was rolling and catching all his words. The investigators believed they had the killer in custody, but this twenty-seven-year-old man with the empty eyes was not what they had expected. What had they expected? How could anyone know what kind of a killer could plot the monstrous crime against the Goldmark family?

David Lewis Rice, Scum of The Earth

“Do you know the Goldmarks?” “Only by history,” “History from where?” “Newspaper clippings and so forth. In today’s paper it mentioned that Charles Goldmark was a prominent figure in the Democratic Party. What it doesn’t mention is that he was also a prominent figure in the Communist Party. I found out that he had been brought before the Senate subcommittee on Un-Americanism.” “This Mr. Goldmark?” “Right.” “Charles Goldmark?” David Rice nodded, as if the detectives were woefully uninformed. “Charles Goldmark.… nothing has been done. He was at one time the regional director of the American Communist Party.” “How did you know where the Goldmarks lived?”  “A newspaper clipping. It showed that he had just moved into a house on 36th.”

Goldmark Home on 36th Ave. in Madrona

Rice said he thought he had read that in an issue of the Seattle Times in March 1983. “You’re talking a couple of years ago, then. Has the Goldmark family been on your mind for some period of time?” “Yeah, I’d say in the last six months.” David Rice said he had to get himself mentally set to do what he planned to do. “What were you going to do?”  “I was going to kill the Goldmarks.”

The Goldmark Family Hiking In The Cascade Mountains

By mid 1985 Rice decided he had to kill Charles Goldmark. He believed that Goldmark was both a Jew and a Communist. In actual fact, Charles Goldmark was neither. But to David Rice, Goldmark represented the enemy. Rice’s first reason for destroying Goldmark had been political, but he had some financial reasons too. “I assumed that he would have an amount of cash on him. I didn’t know how much, but it would be enough to get me by. I took a toy pistol.“ "When was it, when you bought the toy pistol?” “That was Christmas Eve.” He had also bought two pairs of handcuffs at a Big 5 Sporting Goods store, four months prior. He stuffed the gun, the handcuffs, a pair of gloves, two rags, and two bottles of chloroform in the pockets of his green parka. He then took a bus to the Goldmark’s neighborhood. He had only taken two bottles of chloroform and two rags, he explained, because he expected to confront only two people: Mr. and Mrs. Goldmark. “How did you know you had to take a certain bus to get to the area where the Goldmarks lived?”  “I had been there twice before. The first time was, I believe, about the first of November. I went there just to see what kind of house it was and just check out the neighborhood.”

Sally and John Goldmark

Detectives soon realized that Rice had meant to kill Sally and John Goldmark, Charles' parents, who were both dead. His plans had been wrong from the start. Sally and John Goldmark were not communists; their son was even further removed. David Rice had set out to kill the wrong people for the wrong reasons. Rice said he had no idea what Charles Goldmark or his wife looked like. He had returned during the first week of December, again by bus, hoping to peek in the windows to see what Goldmark looked like, but the house was dark.  He did go around to the back of the residence to see that there was an alley and a garage there. He saw there was no handle on the garage door and realized he had no easy entry.

The Garage Today. Still No Handle.

Rice then continued filling in the gaps of what had happened on the 24th. He recalled that he had walked up to the Goldmarks’ home a few minutes after seven. He knocked on the door, and a young boy answered it.

Crime Scene Photo of Front Door

“I was surprised, because I assumed that there were only two— Charles Goldmark and his wife— but I went ahead and I said, I’m from Farwest Cab, and I have a package to deliver for Charles Goldmark, and so he called him. Charles came downstairs.” Rice pulled out the toy pistol he had hidden behind the box. “I flashed it in front of him and I grabbed him by the shirt and turned him around and told him to get down on the floor. The boy ran out. He ran into the kitchen.” Rice kicked the front door shut behind him. He held Charles Goldmark down on the floor just inside the doorway.

Estately.com

“I told Mr. Goldmark to call his son and he did and so he came in, and I took them upstairs.” “Why did you decide to go upstairs?” “I asked him, Where is your wife? and he said, Upstairs in the shower, and so I said, Let’s go upstairs.” Then he marched the man and the boy up the stairs, the realistic-looking gun pointed at their backs.

Estately.com

“He asked, Do you want money? and I said, Yes, I can use all you got, and he said, I don’t have much. He showed me there was fourteen dollars and some change. And we got upstairs and he said, Honey, could you come out here? and she said, What? and he knocked on the door. He poked his head in the bathroom door and said, Put something on and come out here, and so she put on a robe and came out. That's also when I noticed the second boy” Rice then ushered everyone in front of the bay window in the master bedroom.

Estately.com

“I told everybody to get on the floor face-down and had them face away from me so that they couldn’t see that it was just a toy pistol. Then I handcuffed Charles and his wife. I had to stop for a minute. I was getting a little rattled because there were two kids, and so I stopped and thought and then I just figured, I’m in it now. I can’t stop.” Charles told him they were expecting company at 7:30. It only made Rice work faster. He poured Chloroform on a rag and pressed it to each Goldmark's nose until they became unconscious. Both vials were empty, and the family lay still. Only about ten minutes had passed since Rice had entered the home. He glanced at his watch and figured he had five or ten minutes before the company arrived. “First I went downstairs into the kitchen, and I was looking for a knife. I found a filleting knife. It was in the drawer right next to the island."

Estately.com

"What I was looking for was one of those meat hammers.” “Why?”  “I didn’t like the idea of using a knife.” “You wanted to beat as opposed to cut?” “Right.” But Rice had no luck looking for a hammer and went down the basement steps. “I found an iron…a regular clothing iron.” Rice ran upstairs. When he reached the master bedroom he found all four victims still in the same positions, still unconscious. "And so I took the iron, and I hit Mr. Goldmark on the back of the head. I think I hit him about four or five times. Then I hit Mrs. Goldmark. I hit her on the side of the head, and she started moving. I figured the chloroform was starting to wear off, so I hit her a couple more times, and then she stopped moving. He repeated his brutality on the children and after detecting a pulse on both Charles and Annie, he stabbed all four victims repeatedly. Annie Goldmark died there. The other three were hanging by a thread. It was time to leave—to get out of there before the partygoers arrived. It was almost twenty minutes past seven. “I was looking for the back door, which I didn't find for quite a while. It took me about three minutes to find the back door, down in the basement. As I was leaving I turned out all the lights.” He went through the steel-covered door in the basement, through another small room, and out a set of glass doors. David Rice was outside. He was out and down the walkway, turning the knob to open the back gate to the alley.

The Gate

He didn’t dare take a bus; he walked. It was a long way, over two miles, but he knew his clothes were too stained with fresh blood to risk taking a bus. “But about halfway there I realized that I’d forgotten my handcuffs—so I went home and changed clothes and put the stuff down in the basement and went back over there.” “To the house?” "Yes." Incredibly, he returned to the scene of his crime. Rice said he had taken a cab to 26th and Union and then walked back to the Goldmark house, arriving between 8:30 and 9:00. He had thought the victims might not have been discovered yet. He walked along an ivy-clotted bank across the street from the Goldmark house, watching. “I heard police radios and so forth, and so I just kept walking."

Police Tape at The Crime Scene

"I didn’t see a police car. There were a few lights on in the house, though, and I assumed that, you know, that it had been discovered. I thought well, I’m caught now. They’ve got my fingerprints on those handcuffs.” The second time David Rice left the Goldmark home he stopped at a market and bought a tablet, (the same tablet he would write a confession on) soda, and a candy bar. After wandering around downtown on Christmas day,  he went to the home of Max Stingley, an acquaintance who lived in an apartment on Capitol Hill.

The Undre Arms Apartments Have Been Demolished

When Stingley heard a knock on his door he was a little surprised to find a man he knew only as David . He knew David as a member of a group he belonged to called the Fox Club. David had always been pale with dark circles under his eyes, but on Christmas night he had really looked wasted. Stingley was tired himself and told his impromptu guest that he was going to bed. It was what Stingley found on the coffee table before dawn the next morning that made him nervous enough to call the police. He had seen the kid scribbling on a tablet the night before, but he couldn’t figure out if the scrawled words were supposed to be true or some kind of creative writing. Whatever it was, it made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, I AM THE PERSON YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IN THE GOLDMARK CASE. I KNOW WHAT I DID WAS A VERY TERRIBLE THING. THAT IS WHY I AM AS YOU SEE ME NOW. I WANT IT PERFECTLY UNDERSTOOD THAT NO ONE ELSE HAD ANYTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH WHAT I DID. I WENT TO GREAT LENGTHS TO MAKE SURE OF THAT. THE PERSON THAT I LIVE WITH DOESN’T EVEN KNOW THAT I AM WANTED ON A DIFFERENT CHARGE. SHE RECIEVED A COUPLE OF MESSAGES ON HER MACHINE, BUT I ERASED THEM BEFORE SHE GOT TO THEM. I DID NOT USE THE RIFLE THAT I PURCHASED A FEW WEEKS AGO. INSTEAD, I FOOLED THEM WITH A TOY PISTOL WHICH YOU WILL FIND IN THE STORAGE LOCKER. I THREW THE RIFLE AWAY A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO. AGAIN, I WANT IT UNDERSTOOD THAT NO ONE KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS, SO PLEASE DO NOT CAUSE ANY UNNESESSARY SUFFERING TO INNOCENT PEOPLE. I THINK THAT I’VE ALREADY DONE ENOUGH. I GUESS I SHOULD TELL YOU WHY I DID WHAT I DID. THAT WAY, YOU WON’T HAVE TO ASK OTHER PEOPLE ABOUT IT. MY LIFE IS A MESS. IT HAS BEEN SINCE MY WIFE LEFT. SUE HAD BEEN TRYING TO HELP ME STRAIGHTEN IT OUT BUT…

Max Stingley had never heard the name Goldmark. What with the holiday and all, he hadn’t read a paper for a couple of days or had the TV news on. He read the note again, glanced at David, who was still asleep, and puttered about making coffee while he decided what he should do. His guest woke up and was sitting on the couch watching television when Stingley said he was going out to get a pack of cigarettes. Stingley crossed the darkened street to a club he belonged to at 11th and Union. Still troubled, he asked a few early birds there if they had heard about some shooting or something having to do with a Goldmark. They looked at him, astounded. Everybody in Seattle must surely know about the Goldmark attack by now. Where the heck had Stingley been, they asked. Somebody held up the front page of the morning paper for December 26th. The name Goldmark was spread all over it. Stingley felt sick. The note he had found on the table in his apartment wasn’t fiction at all. He had just slept through the night with a probable killer in his apartment.

Rudy Sutlovich had arrived to work the day shift in Homicide shortly after 7 a.m. on December 26th. There was no one there except the two secretaries. The phone rang, and Sutlovich reached for it; it was Elizabeth Eddy, the chief radio dispatcher. “I’ve got a citizen on the 911 line who says his name is Max Stingley— he’s at 11th and Union. Says he’s got a guy watching TV in his apartment who says he killed the Goldmarks. What should I do?” “Get a uniform up there, I’m leaving right now.” Sutlovich and Detective Sonny Davis headed up the hill toward Broadway. By the time they reached Boren and Madison they could hear sirens, and the radio picked up sounds of a foot chase nearby. Stingley had been talking to the uniformed officers in front of his club when his guest happened to glance out the window and see the conference. David deduced correctly that they were talking about him. He realized that Max must have found the note. He ran out of the apartment building and headed north on 11th Avenue. Stingley saw him and pointed him out to the officers. After a brief chase around the block, Rice was arrested and read his rights.

It was almost three in the afternoon on the day after Christmas. Sonny Davis stared at David Rice. “Okay— we’re getting close to wrapping up this session. For the purposes of this interview, do you have any remorse or sorrow or feeling about what you did to the Goldmark family?” “The children. I didn’t expect them there, and I wouldn’t have been there if they had been.” “You’re sorry about the children?” “Yeah.” “Did it ever occur to you to just say, Okay—they’re down and out; let me turn on my heel and walk out of this house and forget it?” Davis asked. “They had already seen me. It was too late.”

Colin and Derek Goldmark

Colin Goldmark died on December 28, 1985. Charles Goldmark died on January 9, 1986. Derek Goldmark died on January 30, 1986. They were all gone.

David Lewis Rice’s trial began in May 1986. On June 5, 1986, the jury of six men and six women took less than five hours to reject Rice’s insanity plea and find him guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. On June 10th the jury announced that they had agreed that Rice should be put to death. Then, on August 6, 1993, U.S. District Court Judge Jack Tanner threw out the death penalty after finding Rice's defense by attorney Bill Lanning to be ineffective. Lanning had allowed the police unlimited access to his client and did not introduce evidence of Rice's psychotic state. In May 1998, Rice agreed to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. Rice was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. 

 "THIS OVERLOOK IS NAMED IN MEMORY OF CHARLES, ANNIE, DEREK AND COLIN GOLDMARK WHO LOVED SEATTLE AND ITS OPEN SPACES."

In April of 1992, the Goldmark family was remembered by a plaque showing a mother and father and two young sons walking along Lake Washington with Mount Rainier in the background. It's on a decorative wall at Madrona Drive and Lake Washington Boulevard.

RIP

Officer Down

Around 10:00 pm on October 31, 2009, Seattle police training officer Timothy Brenton 39, was sitting in a squad car with student officer Brit Sweeney 33, reviewing a traffic stop. Sweeney had just been sworn on to the force on August 19th. They were at 29th and Yesler in the Leschi neighborhood. Suddenly, a light-colored compact car pulled up next to them and opened fire.

Officer Timothy Brenton

Neighbors said they heard eight to 10 shots, possibly from an automatic or semi-automatic weapon. Then, they heard about six shots fire back. When it was all over, Brenton was dead, killed instantly. Sweeney, who was able to return fire, had ducked when fired upon and a bullet grazed the top of her head. She was taken to the hospital. Oddly, an American flag was found near the scene.

29th and Yesler Way in the Leschi Neighborhood

​Police called it an assassination, though it's doubtful Brenton was a specific target. The 10-year veteran taught young officers the trade, and wasn't known to have any enemies or recent threats. Most likely, the shooter decided he wanted to kill a cop that Saturday night, and Brenton was the unlucky officer. He was married with two kids, ages 8 and 11. His father and uncle are retired Seattle officers.

Brenton and His Father The Day He Was Sworn In

A massive manhunt went underway and tips poured in as detectives looked for a compact or sub-compact car that was either white, silver, or light blue. On November 6th, detectives received a call that a man living in Tukwila, (a suburb near Sea-Tac Airport) owned a 1980 to 1982 Datsun B210 coupe seen in the area where Brenton was murdered. When they arrived at the Terrace Apartments at 13705 56th Avenue South, they also discovered a sedan that looked like a police cruiser. The Datsun was covered by a tarp.

The Suspect's Ride

Detectives waited until Christopher Monfort, a criminal justice student at Highline Community College in Burien, (another suburb near the airport) approached the car. But when they asked to speak with him, he first ran up a staircase, then pointed a gun at the cops and pulled the trigger. 

The Scene at The Terrace Apartments Halloween 2009

​But the weapon didn't go off. Detectives resumed the foot chase until he once again pointed his gun at them. This time police opened fire, shooting him twice, once in the head. Neither shot was fatal but he is now paralyzed. This all happened at the same time as Officer Brenton's funeral up in Seattle.

The Procession

After police shot and arrested Monfort, a search of his apartment revealed a well-stocked arsenal. Detectives found a rifle, handguns, an assault rifle, and homemade explosives. That led them to believe he may have also been involved in the September 22, 2009 firebombing of four Seattle Police cars in the city's maintenance yard. An American flag had been found at that scene too. DNA would later prove their suspicions correct.

What remains unexplained is why Monfort had a beef with police. He seemed certainly interested in entering the field. He'd already received a degree in criminal justice from the University of Washington, and was working on another criminal justice degree at Highline while mentoring at-risk teens. But he'd recently been laid off from his job as a security guard. At age 41, it's fair to assume he was professionally frustrated. Did he feel he was rejected or passed over by real cops, and was now pissed that he couldn't even keep a rent-a-cop job?

King County prosecutors charged Monfort with aggravated first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in connection with the shooting. He is also charged with arson and attempted first-degree murder in connection with the firebombing, and another attempted first-degree murder charge for attempting to shoot a detective who was pursuing him. His trial date is tentatively set for Sept. 13, 2013. He is expected to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.

A Paralyzed Monfort in Court

On October 31, 2010 a memorial was dedicated to Officer Brenton at the site of the shooting. 

Brenton's Wife and Children at Dedication

Britt Sweeney was named Officer of The Month in November 2009 and took an extended leave from the force, but returned once her wounds healed. She has proven to be an excellent officer in a city full of corrupt ones. In September of 2011, Sweeney was named Washington State Officer of The Year.

RIP Officer Brenton.

Monorail Mishaps

Construction on Seattle's twin monorail trains began in May 1961, to transport World's Fair visitors between downtown and the fairgrounds at the Seattle Center. The initial construction cost was $3.5 million, and the trains made their inaugural 25 foot high, 1.2 mile runs on April 19, 1962, just two days before the fair opened. 

Construction of  monorail and Space Needle in 1961

The trains were heavily featured in the Elvis movie, It Happened at The World’s Fair. 

Elvis shooting scene on monorail.

After the fair, the Monorail was taken over by the City of Seattle and its operation was contracted to Metro Transit and then to a private firm managed by Seattle Center. The line appeared doomed in the late 1980’s by plans for development of Westlake Center Mall, but City Council won inclusion of a train terminal as part of the new mall, which opened in October 1988. 

Monorail at Westlake Mall.

The trains have motors and gears and like any other machine, they’re going to break down or malfunction from time to time. Passengers have been stuck on the trains numerous times over the years but, the first major mishap was on July 25, 1971, when a brake failure on the red train lead to a crash at the Seattle Center. Around 50 people were on the train as it made its last run of the day from downtown. At 9:54 pm, the train approached the station without slowing down. Some of the passengers realized or sensed something was wrong. “What the Hell’s going on?” yelled the driver. Then he shouted, “HANG ON!” The train slammed into a steel girder at the end of the track, built for the purpose of keeping an out-of-control train from running off the tracks and ramming into the terminal. 

Steel girder at Seattle Center station.

It was estimated that the train was traveling between 15 and 20 mph upon impact. The girder cut into the front of the car like an ax, caving in the roof. The glass and metal front of the car caved in to the first row of seats. The sides of the front car buckled from the force of the impact. One woman in a passenger seat directly opposite the driver was thrown through the front window. Another witness reported people “sticking out of the front” of the train after the crash. Twenty-six people were injured, two seriously, but there were no fatalities. The blue train was unaffected by the accident and was in operation the next day. 

Aftermath of crash.

But, on May 31, 2004, the blue train had a mishap of its own. The south-bound monorail was carrying passengers away from the last day of the Northwest Folklife Festival during Memorial Day weekend at the Seattle Center. As the fire started, passengers reported hearing a loud pop, the lights went out, and smoke began filling the train. The driver told the passengers to move towards the front of the car, and shortly thereafter, the train’s doors opened. As the fire department arrived at 5:27 pm, black smoke billowed out of the train down 5th Avenue. 

A woman stands on the rail to get a baby fresh air.

Passengers gathered by the open doors, trying to get some fresh air before being rescued. Fire fighters hoisted a ladder to an open door at the front of the train, and began evacuating passengers. A driver from Seattle Monorail Services parked the red train alongside the blue train and began evacuating passengers onto it via metal planks. The monorail was designed to be able to evacuate passengers from one train to another in emergencies. Forty people were treated at the scene and released, and eight passengers plus one firefighter were taken to Harborview Medical Center to be treated for smoke inhalation. The fire was caused by friction from a broken low-speed drive shaft igniting grease and oil on the train’s undercarriage. The train was shut down for six months.

Fire damage.

On November 26, 2005, the red and blue trains collided. It happened at about 7:10 pm and sent glass falling to the street. The two trains scraped against each another, ripping a door off in the process. This happened near Fifth Avenue and Olive Way. In that area, the tracks start to converge as they approach the station at Westlake Center, not leaving enough space for the trains to pass. 

Oops.

One train was apparently just pulling into the Westlake station and the other was departing toward Seattle Center when they hit. At least one of the drivers waved at the other and a horn was honked just as the accident occurred, witnesses said. It took nearly an hour to evacuate the 84 passengers on board the two trains. There were no serious injuries, but two people were taken to the hospital to be checked out. The monorail was halted for nine months.

Climbing down.

Over two million people ride the monorail every year. With the numerous breakdowns and these three major mishaps, it seems like a big chance to take for only a 1.2 mile walk. The 2012 movie Grassroots, tells the story of Grant Cogswell's 2001 run for city council and his idea to expand the monorail city-wide.

COPS

The Seattle Police Department is no stranger to police brutality accusations. As are many cities, I’m sure. But, I don’t live in those cities, I live in this one-and it concerns the hell out of me. Citizens armed with cell phone cameras have caught a lot of the brutality. Here are just a few of the stories that have happened recently. 2010 was an especially bad year. I also realize there are hundreds of officers on the force who don’t participate in this type of behavior. This post isn’t about those officers and I thank them for their service.
 

November 29, 2008

15 year-old Malika Calhoun and a friend were pulled over by King County Sheriff Deputies at 3:30 AM in Tukwila. Calhoun was operating her parents car, which they had reported stolen. She was arrested and taken to a holding cell at Sea-Tac City Hall at 4800 S. 188th St. A security camera shows Deputies Paul Schene and Travis Brunner as they escorted the girl into a cell. Schene asked her to remove her sneakers and, as she slipped out of her left one, she appeared to kick it toward Schene, who was standing outside the open cell door. Schene then lunged through the door and kicked her, striking either her stomach or upper thigh area. He pushed her against a corner wall before flinging her to the floor by her hair.

He then squatted down on her and made "two overhead strikes" although it's unclear where the blows landed. A detective who reviewed the video said it appeared Schene and Brunner had the girl under control when Schene decided to strike her. Schene is 6 feet 2 and weighs 195 pounds. He and the girl then exchanged words. Brunner said she was "real lippy" after being informed she was under arrest and called them "fat pigs." The Sheriff's Office policy manual says deputies should use physical or deadly force only when "necessary to effect an arrest, to defend themselves or others from violence, or to otherwise accomplish police duties according to law." Schene was also involved in a shooting in 2007 where he killed a suspect after shooting him 11 times. Paul Schene was fired, charged, and acquitted by two hung juries. He’s now fallen off the face of the earth.

Sea-Tac City Hall

  

April 17, 2010

The Seattle Police Department’s Gang Unit responded to a 911 call made by a man who claimed that he was robbed by four Latino men with a machete outside China Harbor Restaurant on Lake Union. One of the officers, Shandy Cobane, detained a Latino male suspect, and said " I'm going to beat the fucking Mexican piss out of you. You feel me, Homey?" and kicked him in the head as the man shouted that he was innocent. Female officer Mary Woollum, stomped on his leg. No ambulance was ever called for Martin Monetti Jr., even though he was bleeding badly from the head. He was later released after police confirmed that he had nothing to do with the alleged robbery. City attorney Peter Holmes said the head-stomping was not unreasonable. Cobane, 45, received a 30-day suspension for the racial slur and Woollum, also 45, was only given a written reprimand.  

China Harbor Restaurant at 2040 Westlake Ave. North

 

June 14, 2010

It all started when a cop stopped a man for jaywalking. Things escalated quickly from there as voices were raised and a crowd gathered. When two young women intervened, (For no reason) an onlooker pulled out his phone and started rolling. On the video, Officer Ian P. Walsh 39, is seen punching 17 year-old Angel Rosenthal in the face, after she expressed her outrage at the arrest of her friend, Marilyn Levias, 19, after Marilyn failed to comply with Walsh's orders to see her way out of the jaywalking situation. This all happened in front of Franklin High School. Both ladies already had criminal records. Officer Walsh was punished for punching Angel by being transferred to a police training section for a few days to review the tactics that he’d been taught. Then, he and Marilyn met at a North Seattle community center in a sit-down brokered by the Urban League. They apologized to one another. Marilyn was found guilty of obstructing a police officer and was sentenced to 24 hours of community service. To think all this could have been avoided, had that guy just used that perfectly good pedestrian overpass.

Pedestrian Overpass and Bus Stop at Rainier Ave. S. and MLK

 

August 17, 2010

A local man called the cops on Seattle officers when he felt a traffic stop was spinning out of control and the entire incident was captured on a police video that shows the man being yanked from his car and thrown to the ground. The video shows Seattle Police pulling a car over for speeding at Rainier Ave. South and South King St. Then, the officers approach the driver. Although the dashboard camera captured the incident, the officer wasn't wearing his microphone – a violation of department policy. Once stopped, the driver, Amanuel Gebreselassie, says the conversation went bad from the beginning. In their report, police said the driver was “extremely verbally aggressive.” But Amanuel denied that – and says the stop seemed so out of line, he called 911. An audiotape of the 911 call recorded the conversation between Amanuel and the  dispatcher.

“911. What are you reporting?”

“Uh, an illegal stop by an officer- you know, I just want to make sure he’s a real officer. There’s an officer here, but he’s talking crazy to me, and I’m not really wanting to deal with this guy.”

The conversation was cut short when a group of officers returned to the car.

“Get out of the car,” one officer can be heard saying on the tape.

“For what?”

“Get out of the car, man.”

Police say Amanuel resisted, so they yanked him to the ground.

In the video, one officer appears to deliver a sharp kick but it’s unclear where it lands.

The officers then performed an illegal search of the car and found 53 grams of pot in the trunk. The department reprimanded three officers for the illegal search but did nothing about the violence inflicted on Amanuel.

Rainier Ave. South and South King Street

 

August 30, 2010 

A partly Deaf Native American man, John T. Williams, was shot and killed by SPD Officer Ian Birk after Williams was seen crossing Boren Ave. at Howell St. with a folding 3-inch carving knife and wooden board. Williams was standing 9 to 10 feet away when Officer Birk, a rookie officer with just two years of experience, stopped his cruiser, got out, and shouted orders at him to drop the knife three times before he fatally shot Williams in the chest four times. The confrontation lasted less than 1 minute. Most of it was caught on Birk’s dash cam.

Williams is caught on Birk's dash cam just seconds before he was shot

After initial reports that Williams advanced on Birk, the Seattle Police Department said they could no longer be sure that occurred and decided that Williams had not moved threateningly towards Officer Birk. Birk later resigned.

Boren Ave. and Howell Street

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