Congressional candidate allegedly driving ‘stolen’ van claims police ‘conspiracy’

Jesse Wineberry, a Seattle Democrat running for Congress, was detained after driving a van that was reported stolen and being extremely uncooperative with police. And now he’s claiming a “conspiracy” to stifle his political career, according to a police report.

Seattle Police Officer Benjamin Flick found a red Toyota that had been reported stolen in the 1500 block of Occidental Avenue South on July 20, according to the report. Wineberry, 61, was the driver and was asked repeatedly to exit the vehicle but did not comply.

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After being asked three times to exit the van, he began to drive away from the officers but was quickly stopped. On the fifth command, Wineberry finally started to comply.

But Wineberry again ignored police commands, even with more officers arriving.

Wineberry, according to the report, would not “place his hands behind his back” even after being asked nine times. Instead, he told them to “Stop f****ing with me.” He then resisted arrest, refusing to allow officers to place handcuffs on his wrist. At one point, Wineberry allegedly “place[d] his left hand onto the … gun belt of one of the officers.” At the time, he denied reaching for the officer’s gun.

Finally, Wineberry was placed in handcuffs but refused to sit in the back of the patrol car. When taken to the South Precinct, the report says Wineberry “…accused officers of being part of a conspiracy to derail his campaign for being the first African-American member of the Washington state Congress.”

He may now be doubling down on his claims. In a press conference on Thursday, Wineberry says he was racially profiled by police, even though he admits the van he was in was reported stolen after a “misunderstanding with the rental-car company,” The Seattle Times reports. The Times reports that Wineberry’s staff didn’t extend the rental agreement, something he was unaware of.

“I think I was stopped because of the vehicle,” he said, according to Times. “I think the way I was treated was because I was African-American.”

In an interview with Q13, he claims an officer was giving the other officers “…code to shoot me.”

“I wanted to make sure that I was not going to be a victim of what I believe to be code language to authorize the use of lethal force in that situation,” Wineberry said. “If it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody.”

Only, it didn’t happen to him.

The report concludes he refused multiple commands from officers. At one point, he seemingly attempted to drive away, and he had his hand on the gun belt of an officer. He wasn’t mistreated; he was given considerable opportunities to comply. In fact, this situation does more to combat the claim that cops are going out of their way to mistreat black suspects.

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