General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: And Then There Were Three: Third Grand Jury Refuser Goes to Prison [View all]HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)windows on may day, and actual police in some of the pictures, how is it that they couldn't arrest the folks who actually broke the windows -- v. summoning people who weren't even there to secret grand jury proceedings?
so i look at some of the old footage and some commentary leads me to this news report. there's a big bunch of supposed black bloccers walking down the street, media people following them from various angles (above, and there's some media on the ground as well, including the woman commenter's partner). a female media person is following at a distance -- behind police, who are also following.
they eventually wind up at niketown, where a few guys proceed to bust windows -- maybe 5 max. the cops move in -- but watch them. they don't seem too interested in catching the guys who actually busted the windows (about 2:32 & on). they could have easily caught at least one of them but they seem more interested in spraying pepper spray around and somehow get distracted. the cops have white on their shoulders.
after the guys who actually did the damage move out of frame, several cops get very involved with one lone guy who doesn't seem to be one of the guys who broke the windows. also, they've got cameras following overhead, & you know they've got zooms, but rather than follow the folks who did the damage they zero in on this straggler -- only to return, when it's too late, to the main group, who are now on a different street. but seattle was crawling with police that day. with the helicopter cameras etc. they could easily have cordoned off streets and caught everyone in that bunch and interrogated them.
doesn't seem like they were trying too hard. at the end you can see there are bike cops riding along with the protestors, following them. yet no arrests that i can see. weird. the media people at the end talk about how the police 'dispersed' the protestors, as though that was the police's function -- to disperse them, rather than to arrest the folks they plainly saw busting windows.