Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell arrested 29 years ago; 3 misdemeanor charges dropped

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell was arrested 29 years ago in Iowa and charged with three misdemeanors that were later dropped.

According to the Seattle Times, the mayor faced charges of carrying a concealed weapon, brandishing it at another person and resisting arrest.

Other Harrell news: Mayor blames staff member for Sonics joke that bombed

Harrell says he was ‘unfairly targeted’

“Because of this situation, and other instances from my youth of being unfairly targeted by bias, this is one reason I have been a strong advocate for police accountability,” Harrell told the Times.  He said this was a case of racial profiling.

The arrest reportedly happened outside an Iowa casino in Sept. 1996; by March 1997 the charges were dropped. According to news reports cited by the Times, the dismissals were partly due to the fact Harrell apologized to the arresting officers.

“This was a traumatic incident for the mayor, but he has spoken openly in the past over being racially profiled and how that has informed his approach to public service,” Jamie Housen, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, told the Times.

The Times said it learned of the arrest through an anonymous tip.

Harrell was living in Nebraska at time of arrest

Harrell was living in Omaha at the time of the arrest, having moved there from Seattle when his wife, Joanne, took a job with US West in Nebraska. He was employed by a local law firm.

Harrell is not known to have mentioned the incident during campaigns and his time in Nebraska is not mentioned in online biographies.

The Times reports the Council Bluffs, Iowa police department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations had no records of his arrest, according to spokespeople for both agencies.

Through his office, Mayor Harrell released the following statement to KIRO Newsradio:

Nearly 30 years ago, I received a nomination for appointment to a controversial affordable housing board. I received a deluge of calls opposing my nomination, including death threats. As a Black man newly relocated to a Midwestern community, I had a handgun in my car for the safety of myself and my wife. Just after midnight, having received these threats, I was approached by multiple people in a parking lot. Not knowing their intentions and fearing for my life, I referenced being in possession of a handgun, which was unloaded, and showed it to them.

While in the parking lot, we realized that there was a misunderstanding, and we amicably settled the dispute, entering the establishment together. However, I was then racially profiled by a private security officer and detained for having the gun in my car. Knowing all the facts, the prosecutor asked to drop the charges and a judge agreed. I pursued legal recourse after my constitutional rights were violated by an illegal search.

Because of this situation, and other instances from my youth of being unfairly targeted by bias, this is one reason I have been a strong advocate for police accountability — including advocating for SPD to join the consent decree, and why I proposed and passed Seattle’s bias free policing law. This is also why I’ve fought for racial equity and opportunity through initiatives like ‘Ban the Box,’ recognizing that people of color are disproportionately likely to be arrested, and too many are not in a position to prove their innocence and get a second chance.”

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