By The FirstA US District Court Judge has blocked police in Seattle from arresting anyone for vandalism, citing concerns over “censorship.”
From the Seattle Times:
Seattle police have been barred — at least temporarily — from making graffiti-related arrests after a federal judge issued an injunction on the city’s contested property damage law late Tuesday.
U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman’s order prohibits arrests under the city’s existing law, which four plaintiffs claim violated their First and 14th amendment rights, among other claims, “by being both vague and overbroad.”
The case dates back to January 2021 when the plaintiffs — Derek Tucson, Robin Snyder, Monsieree de Castro and Erik Moya-Delgado — protested Seattle police by writing statements like “[Expletive] the Police” in charcoal and chalk on a temporary concrete wall outside of Seattle’s East Precinct. According to Braden Pence, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, the first person was arrested after writing “peaceful protest” on the wall with a piece of coal.
The law “is written in a way that maybe, if the police were reasonable and could be trusted to exercise their discretion in a just way, it wouldn’t have ever become a problem,” Pence said. “But the fact is they can’t be trusted.”
The city code in question says someone who “intentionally damages the property of another” or “writes, paints, or draws any inscription, figure, or mark of any type on any public or private building or other structure or any real or personal property owned by any other person” is guilty of property destruction, which is typically referred to the city attorney to prosecute, if the value of the damage is less than $1,000.
“The way it’s written right now, if I took a stick out to Alki Beach, and I wrote a big heart and threw an arrow through it, that would be a crime, but for Judge Pechman’s injunction,” Pence said noting that the current code does not require any actual or permanent damage to be done.
