Protesters swarm Tacoma streets over police driving vehicle through crowd at street race
In a demonstration that began peacefully but rose to a level that included scattered property damage, a group of more than 100 protesters gathered Sunday night at the intersection in downtown Tacoma where the night prior a police officer plowed through a crowd with a car. Video from witnesses showed the officer hitting multiple people with the SUV and then running over at least one person before driving away.
Tacoma police spokeswoman Wendy Haddow said the officer was responding to reports of street racers. Haddow said the officer sped out of the scene for his own safety, fearing that the crowd of pedestrians watching might break the vehicle’s windows and hurt him.
Two people were hospitalized following the incident with non-life threatening injuries and one has since been released. The officer driving the vehicle has been placed on paid administrative leave and the Pierce County Force Investigation Team is investigating the incident as a deadly use of force.
The protesters first gathered at Frost Park where they called for the officer to be fired and expressed criticism for what they say is a lack of transparency from the city. In a statement to The News Tribune Sunday, Mayor Victoria Woodards “called on the City Manager and Police Chief to ensure that everyone involved is held accountable.”
Woodards also expressed support for demonstrations that had been planned but had not occurred yet.
“I continue to be proud of Tacoma’s long-standing reputation as a place of strong, non-violent advocacy and activism,” she said. “I continue to support your right to use your voice to advocate and demonstrate peacefully during this time of heightened tension.
Arrests near protest
Police did arrest two people who were apparently trying to gain access to a Tacoma rooftop near the planned demonstration, Haddow said. It is unclear if they were affiliated with the protest and their identities have not been released.
Witnesses called 911 about 4:30 p.m. to report seeing three people picking a lock in a secure of an apartment building in the 700 block of Commerce Street.
When officers arrived, they arrested a 32-year-old man armed with a handgun and a 36-year-old woman carrying double-bladed knives with batons. A third suspect was not captured.
The suspects were wearing all black, tactical riot gear and ski masks, Haddow said.
Both people who were arrested were booked into Pierce County Jail on suspicion of first-degree burglary.
The subsequent demonstration began largely peacefully as a call for police reform. Two protesters, V and Anthony, said they came to protest from Federal Way and that seeing the video of Saturday’s incident motivated them to attend.
“They feel like they can do whatever they want and just run over people,” Anthony said. “It’s just not right.”
“There needs to be complete police reform,” V said. “It’s a whole lot that needs to change.”
V also decried what he considers a “double standard” afforded to police and called for greater accountability.
Some observers raised concerns about aspects of the protest.
Overlooking a barricade on Commerce Street downtown, 32-year-old Alexander Schelhammer, a local business owner who runs the clothing brand PolyRev, described himself as a first generation son of immigrants who grew up in Tacoma and attended Stadium High School. Wearing a mask with a butterfly to symbolize that “migration is natural,” he spoke about the concerns he felt while watching the protests.
“The trash cans were brought out, I get it, build that barricade,” Schelhammer said. “Somebody started lighting it on fire and I asked them ‘Yo, are you from here? Are you from Tacoma?’ He said, ‘No’ and I was like ‘As someone who is from here, who has been resisting the city, who has been resisting the police, who has been resisting the Northwest Detention Center, who has been resisting the Liquid Natural Gas plant, as someone who is born and raised here who is very passionate and wants the best for everyone around me, lighting a trashcan on fire in my city is not okay. I asked them to stop.”
Schelhammer said that there were still people from the city present, but that he was concerned that those voices were being lost in the night’s protests.
“The citizens of Tacoma are here too,” Schelhammer said. “But as someone who has been working for years to make this city a more habitable place, more equitable place for everyone I didn’t like that being on fire. No one from Tacoma lit that on fire.
“This protest isn’t being led by people on a megaphone from Tacoma.”
Seeking justice for Manuel Ellis
Throughout the night there were calls for justice for Manuel Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man who died in police custody in March. The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Ellis died of respiratory arrest due to hypoxia due to physical restraint.
Tacoma city manager Elizabeth Pauli has declined to fire the officers involved in Ellis’ death, despite Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards directing her to do so in June.
As the night went on, some people broke windows of cars and various buildings such as the County-City Building and South Sound 911. Authorities said seven employees had to be evacuated and at least 20 windows were broken on three buildings and two police cars. Protesters also stopped outside the Pierce County Jail and chanted “free them all” to those being held inside, some of whom pressed their hands against the glass to acknowledge the passing march.
There were no widespread arrests, though authorities said they would be quick to do so if the demonstration escalated beyond peaceful levels.
”The bar is low on arresting people tonight,” Sheriff Ed Troyer said earlier in the evening. “We don’t want people or officers injured. If we take out the main instigators ruining it for everyone else, it will ensure that it stays peaceful.”
The county opted for a plan to process and book as many people as necessary — a deviation from the most recent practice of not booking anybody into jail other than violent offenders due to the pandemic.
This story was originally published January 24, 2021 at 12:00 AM.
