Following a report from Seattle’s Office of Police Accountability that confirmed today two Seattle Police Department officers were on U.S. Capitol steps and four others were somewhere nearby during a violent Jan. 6 insurrection, SPD Chief Adrian Diaz vowed to punish all six with at least another month of paid administrative leave.
“Participating in a violent rally to overthrow democracy that led to the death and injury of their own Washington D.C. men in blue is wrong and cannot be excused,” said Diaz this afternoon. “That is why, effective today, I’m reprimanding all of them with another month of paid administrative leave.”
Asked if the move was too harsh considering the officers have already been through months of difficult administrative leave, Diaz said he’s thought about it a lot.
“Look, personally I hate scaring any of my officers and their colleagues into thinking they’ll ever truly be held accountable for anything, especially unnecessarily injuring and killing people,” Diaz said. “But sometimes you gotta show staff who’s boss when they blatantly break the laws they’re supposed to uphold by giving them another month of paid vacation, I mean paid administrative leave.”
Critics of Officers Alexander Everett, Caitlin Rochelle, Jason Marchione, Jacob Briskey, Scott Bach and Michael Settle experiencing even a second of anything that could remotely be construed punishment for participating in a violent trespassing of the nation’s U.S. Capitol building say they’re worried about what this means for free speech.
“What’s next? Police officers can’t openly tattoo swastikas on their arms, post pictures of themselves flashing white power signs on social media or pledging allegiance to Vladimir Putin over the U.S. without worrying they’ll be fired? Absurd!” said Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan. “Our officers’ right to express themselves through the free breaking of laws in the name of upholding a racist and anti-democratic status quo without any punishment must be protected at all times.”
At press time, sources say the punished officers just didn’t know if they could bear one more beach resort pina colada.
