Lawsuit for teen death in CHOP zone names ex-police leader, fire chief
Aug 31, 2023, 4:43 PM
An empty Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) is pictured after Seattle Police cleared the CHOP and retook the department's East Precinct in Seattle, Washington on July 1, 2020. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP via Getty Images)
A lawsuit against the City of Seattle and King County for the death of a teen during the CHOP/CHAZ occupation in the Capitol Hill neighborhood in 2020 has been updated to include two more city officials.
The lawsuit, originally filed in June, has been amended to include former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best and Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins, according to Oshan & Associates, the law firm that filed the claim on behalf of the victim’s father, Antonio Mays Sr.
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Antonio Mays Jr., 16, was visiting Seattle from San Diego and wanted to join the protests when he was shot and killed. The Seattle Police Department did not arrive at the scene for five hours, by which time they said that the crime scene had been disturbed.
No one has been arrested for Mays Jr.’s death.
The lawsuit alleges there was a policy violation regarding the investigation into the boy’s death, as found by Seattle’s Office of Police Accountability.
“Not only did Seattle officials encourage the CHOP zone and the anarchy which ultimately led to the teen’s violent and painful death, it was not even properly investigated or even acknowledged, and Antonio Mays Junior never got the justice he deserves,” a statement from Oshan & Associates said. “This is heart-wrenching for the family to witness. The family deserves answers from all participants involved.”
The city of Seattle previously settled with the father of the 19-year-old man killed near the CHOP zone, paying him $500,000.
