Seattle City Attorney charges one cop, declines to file against another in separate assault cases

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes has filed misdemeanor assault charges against a Seattle Police officer for allegedly assaulting a handcuffed man, but has declined to charge another Seattle officer in a separate assault case, both referred to his office by SPD Chief John Diaz.

Holmes says Officer Chris Hairston assaulted a 23-year-old suspect after the man had assaulted his wife Katherine, also a Seattle Police Officer. The man had attacked the female officer as she responded to a report of a person passed out near Seattle Central Community College on Sept. 24, 2012.

Hairston had been on patrol elsewhere when he learned of the incident and responded to the scene, where he allegedly went after the assailant. Other officers separated Hairston from the suspect and reported the incident to their commanders.

Katherine Hairston was treated for a head injury and scrapes to her hands and knees following the incident. Holmes says Chris Hairston’s assault was caught on police dash-cam video, but can’t be released until the end of potential civil and criminal litigation.

Hairston faces up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $5,000. He was placed on administrative reassignment pending an investigation by SPD’s Office of Professional Accountability.

The Seattle Police Guild responded to the charges:

Mr. Holmes is only filing criminal charges because Officer Hairston is a police officer. The proper venue to address the actions of the officer is in the Office of Professional Accountability and not in a criminal court. This unnecessary filing decision is only being done for political reasons and is a waste of city resources, and valuable court time. Mr. Holmes’ decision further damages the bleak relationship he has created with the rank and file officers of SPD who do not trust his judgment and question his fairness.

In the other outstanding case referred by Diaz, Holmes determined another officer should not be charged in connection with an August incident.

Officer Clayton Powell was investigated for getting into a verbal confrontation with a young man during an incident involved roughly 25 young men in South Seattle as he responded to reports of an assault at the scene. Powell, 51, a 19-year-veteran, was caught on video getting into a heated exchange with a man appearing to provoke him. Powell then got into an argument with then 18-year-old Ismail Abdella and shoved him.

Powell claimed the man spit in his face.

But Abdella’s attorney Christopher Carney says Powell then shoved, slapped and slammed Abdella’s head into a police car while he was handcuffed, and has since filed a $500,000 claim against the Seattle Police Department.

A subsequent video recorded later that day and obtained by the Seattle Times showed Powell entering a holding cell at the South precinct and threatening to punch Abdella several times, which Carney argued is grounds for assault charges.

However, an outside use-of-force expert hired by the city to review the incident advised Holmes it was unlikely a jury would convict Powell based on his review of the facts and the videos. But Gregory Yacoubian, a former LAPD lieutenant and Los Angeles-based attorney, did question’s Powell’s conduct. “He should be evaluated regarding his fitness to continue in police service,” Yacoubian said.

In a statement, Holmes says “Although I find Officer Powell’s behavior extremely troublesome, it is critical that I exercise due diligence and fairness when making a decision to charge or not charge a person with a crime. Although I determined that criminal charges were not warranted in this instance, I will continue to hold police officers responsible for their actions that violate the law.”

The police guild said, “Mr. Holmes has once again proven that he does not objectively study these cases but rather has a double standard for filing decisions when it involves a police officer.”