its obvious that the seattle police-(revenuers as i like to call them) used more force than nessacery on the guy in the wheelchair.pulling his arm around his back, and pushing him over is way out of line-i mean what is the guy gonna do, run away?? in my opinion,i hope citizens start wising up and figure out that we out number the cops.when police start clubbing people in protest marches like they did in los angelos the crowd should have surrounded the police and beat them down. we are living in an ever increasing police state and people need to put a stop to it.Scum like george w. bush are against the people and for the corporations and all about ruining our country. VOTE FOR RON PAUL IN 2008 IF YOU WANT A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER,

Mr. Mak,

Please if you would be so kind....find one example of the SPD/WSP not being exonerated for the MURDER or severe injury of untold scores of minorities at the hands of these agencies, by these so called oversight committees.

Its all a crooked scam. If your white the chances of getting a fair revue increase, slightly.

Please disprove this statement sir.

I just finished watching the show and yes I agree that the police used too much force on the gentleman in the wheelchair. Unfortunately, If you know Seattle; you know that the area between Pine and Pike on Third street is one of the most criminal active areas in Seattle. Not a day goes by when I am waiting for my bus that I do not see a fight, a drug deal, or people selling stolen property. I know that this is an area I try to avoid after dark and I definetly know this is not an area where I would want to work if I were a police officer. So.....this is not in defense of the police officers' actions but I do believe that if an officer did work in that area for several years obviously they would be in the media spotlight more often because the area has a higher crime rate.

I believe it is obvious that the chief pressured the investigators at the jail to go against thier professional decision not to not to trade a testimony for a release.
I also would question the integrity of an officer that has shot unarmed people and filed a law suit against someone for medical bills when the insurance company that covers him at work weather it be L&I or the Seattle Police Department did not do so seems at least suspicious if not outrageous!

The chief is being criticized for demanding the investigators get the potential witnesses’ statement about what she may have seen that night. I still cannot understand what is wrong with the chief demanding the most complete and through investigation possible- especially of his own officers. I wonder what the NAACP and other detractors would have said had the chief told the investigators NOT to interview the potential witness (because she is a drug abuser or other reasons as mentioned by opponents who are challenging her credibility). Had this been the case, the same groups would have been SCREAMING cover-up by the chief.

It would seem the chief was in a catch-22 and politically motivated attack that leaves him vulnerable no matter what he does. Residents in Seattle, like other cities, need to be out there to see what a police officer faces on a daily basis (such as the Tacoma officer recently beaten by four suspects on a vandalism call) before they sit in an office, after the fact, and pass some sort of divine judgment.

This political folly is exactly why so many police unions are afraid of “citizen” oversight committees. In the end, it is not about the truth (or just like with criminal cases, you have to go with the best that the evidence tells you), it is about the politics. Why has our society become such a dichotomy of extremes? What happened to the middle ground, or are we in the silent majority afraid to speak out because of the instant attack that will come from one or both ends of the extreme?

The cops that planted these DRUG should be charged with 1. POSSESSION OF DRUGS. 2. POSSESSION WITH THE INTENT TO DISTRUBIUTE. Both are FELONY, but if your a BAD cop then you get a promotion. All this comes along when we thought that the gangs were our biggest problems.

Having spent some time in that area, due to drug addiction (I have been clean for over 2 1/2 yrs), the action of the police officers is in my opinion, correct. No one asked why the officer was choking the suspect. The reason: to prevent the suspect from swallowing his crack cocaine. It wasn't said, but I would bet the drugs found were found in the man's mouth. That is a very common and routine action by police officers. Why the NAACP is even involved is ridiculous. It isn't about color, it's about crime. I think that the reason the Chief got invovled was because he KNEW that his officers would need that witness's statement. The idea that the cops 'planted' drugs on someone in that area is really pretty silly. They have enough to do without framing someone.
I find it curious that no matter what crime is committed, if the suspect is a person of color, the NAACP trys to make it the cops' fault. I would speculate further that the man in question has prior convictions for drug sales or use.The prosecuting attorney should not have dropped the original charges. Enough of this "politically correct" crap. Let the police do their job!

Mr. Mak,

I applaud your show and the newspaper's exposing a few additional facts about what really went on.

In the interest of full disclosure and so that everyone will understand my outlook on life, I'm a middle aged white guy. That being said, I think this has little to do with race and I happen to agree totally with James Bible and the NAACP's position. This is a Police thing, not a race thing. I do however agree that people of color probably have a little more difficult time with not only the Police, but also the Prosecutors, Judges and everyone else involved in the Judical system (notice I did not say Justice system as it often has nothing to do with Justice).

The cops involved were simply being their normal bullying selves - except this time oops they got caught on tape. Was it necessary to handcuff the guy behind his back when he's sitting in a wheelchair, of course not. The cop should be taken out and whipped for that one action alone. If you are going to be a cop and you can not use enough common sense to simply handcuff the guy in front or handcuff him to his own chair, then you are not qualified to be a cop. If cop lacks the physical ability to feel at ease arresting a handicap person without abusing them, then again he is not qualifed to be a copy.

If the cops are too stupid or too dishonest (take your pick, either or both) to fill out a complete and honest incident report, then again, they are not qualified to be cops.

If the Chief of Police feels that he must intervene in the investigations so as to protect the images of the cops that work under him, then that proves a couple things. Obviously the Chief does not have enough faith in his cops that they can do it correctly by themselves without his superior assistance, and, he is more concerned with the image the public might have of him and his department than he is with Truth and Justice. Those two issues prove that he is not qualified to be the Chief of Police.

The Seattle Police Department is corrupt, pure and simple. Corruption, like cancer, spreads if not treated, and like cancer the only cure is to excise the bad and get rid of them before they corrupt the remaining good. In this case the Seattle Police Department is like a bad fish, it's rotting from the head down. Bad cops know they can get away with bad acts because their Chief will defend them no matter what the truth is. The Chief of Police must resign or be fired and then the new Chief needs to come in a conduct a REAL INVESTIGATION and then clean house as needed.

And as for the supposed witness, if a private citizen were caught paying a witness to testify in a certain manner they would call that at a minimum witness tampering. And yes, the Police paid for the testimony, the payment or consideration being letting the witness out of jail.

And as for the Chief of Police being mad about the report being released - oh well. If you have nothing to hide then you hide nothing. The people of Seattle deserve and need a Chief of Police who will lead by example instead of leading by deception, deal making, cover-ups, special treatment and routinely violating the suspects constitutional rights to due process.

All involved should be whipped at the post and then publicly fired from the positions.

I am not a criminal and have never been convicted of anything worse than a traffic offense, but I fear the police because of instances just like this. This is America not some third world country, shame on us if we allow that to continue.

I know exactly how corrupt the policing systems are....after being beaten and robbed I attempted to file a report with the police, instead they - the police - decided they didn't like the fact I called them twice because the police officer who came out the first time refused to make a report because he didn't believe me. They DID decide however to pursue charges against me if I didn't stop trying to convince them to investigate. When I complained to citizen review board they repeated what the police said and did nothing. When this is the state of affairs over an assault and robbery, corruption in cases like asking a drug user to say something to get a cop off are only a formality.

The only answer is thorough integration of the police force by people who are not typical police. Filling the positions with people who are trained in conflict resolution instead of these gun totting maniacs and flim-flam sham appointees on the citizen review boards, will save lives.

The crisis people are having in their lives whatever it may be, cannot be answered to by another system in crisis itself. The state of the state is in peril.

The cop who is suing everyone after he commits murder should be arrested by the state. If he were an attorney he would be called before the bar and banned for filing such nonsense in the courts. There is no independent agency to govern men who wear blue to kill. The whole system, including the courts, is there to protect police- ergo the "police state", not the citizen.

Anyone that can yell "Shoot Shoot Shoot" and obsolve him or herself of any culpability in that persons death and then a system or systems which keep that person in said position more than three times! is the definition of a criminal state.

I thought the comments by Eric Burks and RL (the person who works in that area of town were the best.

I thought the comments by Eric Burks and RL (the person who works in that area of town were the best reviews of the situation.

I thought the comments by Eric Burks and RL (the person who works in that area of town were the best.

Mr. Erik Burke hit the nail on the head. I have worked in this area for the last 20years and I have personnally observed dope dealers and users swallowing their dope when the officers come rolling up on their mountain bikes or on foot. They know that if they get it swallowed the officers won't take the time to have their stomach's pumped by Harborview to retrieve the dope for a felony case. To the ignorant viewer who is unaware of this underworld they would be surprized by the video and the tactics used to retrieve the dope. But to keep our citizens safe and keep this well known narcotic trafficking area in balance arrests have to be made. Our tourism industry would suffer if this area was left untouched. Officers work this area regularly conducting narcotic sting operations. Conducting these operations keep this area in check. What I have seen from these operations is that Seattle PD will work 2nd Pike area hard and push the dopers north or south i.e. Pioneer Sq, China Town, Bell Town. It's like squeezing a balloon from one end and seeing it bulge at the other. A vicious cycle but needed to maintain the balance of the continuing narcotics problem the city/U.S. will never solve. I see all types of narcotics users and dealers in this area. Seeing a dope dealer in a wheel chair is no surprise to me. He should not be handled any differently then any other dealer or user who is committing a crime. As for the officers not taking the female witness/user's name down as a witness, PLEASE what dope head is going to turn in/testify on one of her dope sources. This woman needs dope everyday and will be out in this same neighborhood everyday, who is going to sell her dope when they find out that she cooperated with the police. Why would the officer take the time to take her name down. They know that the State will not force her to testify, that's only in the movies. I don't know if this law is still on the books but there use to be a law titled Drug Loitering. This allowed officers to contact a dope dealer when they haven't actually seen the tiny piece of dope being delivered to a user but his/hers actions are consistant with a dope deal i.e. making numerous contacts and making hand exchanges of u.s. currency that is constistant with a dope deal. This allowed officers to stop and question the suspected dope dealer. In a lot of cases the dope dealer would shove his dope in his mouth as the officers approached or even up the crack of their A**. Dealers will package their dope in marble size balloons and walk around with a bottle of pop when dealing dope so that if they are approached by officers they can swallow the dope with the assistant of a swig of pop and later after the officers have finished questioning them they can throw up the balloons or pass them out later. These types of going-ons is what goes on 24-7 in our downtown city. Any citizen that would ever have the opportunity to watch a Seattle Police narcotics buy bust operation take place while perched high above in an office building would have an eye opener. I have no doubt that these seasoned officers observed this man dealing narcotics out of his wheel chair and when wheel chair man knew that he was caught tossed the dope in his mouth and attempted to swallow his dope to avoid arrest. No evidence NO crime. There is absolutely know other reason that I would see an officer take a suspect by the throat and bend him over other then to retrieve dope from his mouth. If the officers had not found dope or were not able to retrieve the dope and did not arrest him. Then I would be upset. But this guy was found with dope. What seems to be the problem? I only hope that this case does not deter our officers from working this on-going narcotics problem that surrounds our business neighborhoods and breeds other crimes. i.e. the latest rise in shootings downtown. Robert Mak I make a plea to you to question business core downtown and get their opinion on these officers and the narcotics problems. Why just last week I had a tourist speak to me about how she was walking up the stairclimb from Alaska st to Western and Lenora and observed two people shooting up drugs into their arms right on the steps during daylight hours. Lets not be blind to this problem and what we ask our officers to enforce but provide them with our support. I will never support police brutality or corruption but I don't believe these two officers fall within this abuse and should not be drug through the news for what I believe involves more politics then law.

Quite simply put, there are two things in question.
1. Why would police fail to file a complete report? They're supposed to be paid well trained professionals.
2. A woman was reliesed from jail in exchange for testimony - isn't there a conflict of interest here? It seems our paid professionals should have much more intellect and depth - and I believe they do, so; they shouldn't play dumb. I guess they're JUST playing the dumb card.

By watching the video, I can see that the police need a lot of work with dealing in the disability community. These Officers are NOT doctors or trained medical personal. When they decided to place a person in a wheelchair from chest to knees, then they have not created more of a medical problem. Did they use too much force, YES!
I am NOT defending the person being arrested, if he did the crime, then he needs to do the time.
The police need to have better training when it comes to dealing with the disabled. The Police are one of the reasons that I do NOT go into Seattle after a certain hour. Because of how they are way to rough on people, and how they joke about the situations are the main reasons. From what I have seen, in Seattle, on how people deal with the disabled is very appalling. I guess besides the police, everyone in the Seattle Government thinks that we are “Developmentally disabled”. Or the people of Seattle think that most of us don’t know our rights under the law.
This is just more proof of how Seattle should update its sign of “everyone is welcome in Seattle provided that you are NOT disabled.”

I do not believe Kerlikowski is telling the truth. His statements on Upfront were all smoke and mirrors.The officer in question obviously took a minor incident and turned it into an overblown mess!Kerlikowski either "can't see the forest for the trees" ,or he too is a liar.I have witnessed police lie trough their teeth in court on numerous occassions, and it seems he is no different......Nine out of ten have the misconception that they are ABOVE the law.They picture themselves as some sort of crusader and we are ALL the enemy unless they decide different! Good grief. Wake up Seattle.

I find the media is always quick to be very critical of police departments. Suspect this might be they always feel they have the right to know everything. In law enforcement many facts cannot be released because of the possibility of compromising an upcoming charge and trial. I have nothing but praise for our police officers and the agencies they are a part of. It is frightening to think what society would become without their presence. I wish the cities would make funding for not only more officers but video cams in all patrol cars. I find it very enlightening to see the actual series of events that led to an arrest. These seem to overwhelmingly support the officers report of it. We are making an unbelievably hard job even more so by always second guessing what these officers have to do daily and most often the decision has to be made in a split second. I hope to see more on the street. Their presence has always been reassuring to me. Thank you to all the officers out there who are there making it possible for me to go about my daily life.

Big cities are full of scum bags who always want to fight and question authority because they hate the fact that "The Man" is often catching them committing crimes and holding them accountable. The fact of the matter is that the police are damned if they do and damned if they don't as activist types are always looking for an angle to blame someone other than themselves for the results of their own actions.

If I were the Chief of Police in Seattle I’d order my officers to stay out of minority and white trash areas except to respond to calls of service since these areas are the ones who soak up most departments resources yet are also the first to criticize police for not coddling suspects when they are taken into custody. Let these people deal and use drugs, rob, rape, assault, and kill each other and then the police can just come in and scoop up the bodies after the fact, after all half the time the suspect and the victim turn out to both be criminals anyway so when they go after each other its really a victimless crime and they’re doing society a favor by eliminating each other. Man who would these activist have to blame if the police were not present and they actually had to look in the mirror for the first time concerning their own behavior?............Oh yeah, they could still blame President Bush.

Our Police are great! I support them. While I don't believe anyone should have free-reign to do whatever they want to who they want, our Police should be free from opression of the media and citizens, to do their job without obstruction of justice from under-informed third parties.

If citizens police our Police, how do we ensure that we don't enlist corrupt citizens? How do we keep criminals from telling the police what they can and can't do? If a criminal feels mistreated, is it because he did something right, or because he did something wrong? What other way do we know to teach people to improve their lives if not by teaching them to associate discomfort (not unnecessary beating mind you) with doing wrong. Sometimes Officers have to take aggresive action to neutralize a dangerous situation, I support this. I will only oppose if there were blatant beatings, hate crimes, or prejudice against those whom they are to protect. I didn't see any of this. I love our police, keep it up guys you're doing a job which enables the rest of us to do ours, safely.

Well, after watching the program this morning, isn't it just amazing that the story has now changed so dramatically from the very mouth or pen if you will of one of the two who stirred up this mess in the first place. And now we learn that the female who supposedly was released for assisting as a witness turned out to be not true at all. Shame, shame, shame on them. I didn't buy it from the very beginning. It baffles me how so many jump on the band-wagon against our police and its chief.

For those of you that aren't familiar with Third Avenue between Pike and Pine Streets, go ahead, go on down there and hang out for a week. See first-hand the scams, dealings and ripoffs that go on then come back and give your opinions.

Activists! Gotta love em. I know, I'm someone who survived the 60's. That in and of itself should tell you all you need to know.

The system isn't perfect. But until it's changed or fixed, we all have to live within the boundaries of the laws as they are.

I live in the 23rd and Union area, (the CD as many of you call it), and I applaud our police department for the help they are offering up as they continue to deal with the drug traffic and other illegal activities our neighborhood has been plagued with as of late. And there are those who are criticizing the police for their actions! Say what? I've witnessed a drive by shooting on the very street I live, and just one week later another right in front of my home. The police have worked closely with all of us here, and are to be applauded once again for their efforts.

My point being, the police are doing an enormous amount of work in their efforts to do their job to "protect and serve" and unless you've witnessed first-hand the dealings surrounding all of this current controversy then for the love of God get out there and witness it first before spouting off your misinformed or mis-misguided comments and attacks. Policiing Seattle is not an easy task and we're not alone.

Until the facts are all out on the table, we must have confidence in our leaders and as hard as it may be at times to trust our elected officials we must let them lead and do their jobs for which they were elected to do. Our Chief of Police is accountable to our Mayor, our Mayor who was elected.

Once again we have seen all this mess was begun over misinformation, lacking information and/or misguided information. And for what?

Our Chief of Police has had to take time out of his very busy schedule and life to address all of this just to get to the real truth of the matter. What a dis-service this mess has stirred up.

Chief Kerlikowski and his Officers are to be applauded for their continuing to do their jobs in spite of all the controversy swirling around them.

You damn right the Chief and Mayor need to clarify why these offenses were dismissed. I have friends who have been abused drastically by the Seattle PPolice Dept. A friend of mine had an fficer put his cigar out on the belly of my friend while being held by another officer while they were both laughing at him for screeming in pain.

You damn right the Chief and Mayor need to clarify why these offenses were dismissed. I have friends who have been abused drastically by the Seattle PPolice Dept. A friend of mine had an fficer put his cigar out on the belly of my friend while being held by another officer while they were both laughing at him for screeming in pain.

The police chief definitely needsto explain the reasons when he goes against the recommendations of the oversight group.This is needed to protect public confidence in our police dept.Afew "bad apples"can quickly spoil the box. It looks like the OPA review board exposed afew of these "bad apples", hopefully before they spoil more good apples.