Seattle, WA
Seattle ordered to pay over $30 million for fatal shooting of teen in 2020 protest
SEATTLE (AP) — A jury on Thursday ordered the city of Seattle to pay more than $30 million over the unsolved, fatal shooting of a teenager at the “ Capitol Hill Occupied Protest ” zone, which arose in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd.
The King County jury returned the verdict following 12 days of deliberation, finding that the city was negligent in its emergency response to the shooting of Antonio Mays Jr., 16, and that that negligence caused his death, The Seattle Times reported.
Because first responders wouldn’t come to the protest zone, witnesses tried to bring Mays by private vehicle to get medical care from paramedics. They tried to flag down an ambulance that drove away from them, and it was about 24 minutes before they met with medics in a parking lot.
Attorneys for the family argued that Mays might have survived if his airway was properly cleared sooner. The city argued that Mays, who was shot in the head, was unlikely to have lived and that the emergency response was not to blame for his death.
Seattle was ordered to pay $4 million to Mays’ estate and $26 million to his father, Antonio Mays Sr., who became emotional and hugged his lawyer as the verdict was announced.
Racial justice demonstrators enraged about Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police took over eight square blocks in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood in June 2020, creating a protest zone called “CHOP.” It lasted three weeks after the city police department abandoned its nearby precinct, earning derision from President Donald Trump, who claimed a large section of the city had been taken over by anarchists.
Following two shootings at or near the protest, including Mays’ death on June 29, then-Mayor Jenny Durkan and the police department dismantled the zone.
Mays was shot in a stolen white Jeep near the protest zone with a 14-year-old also in the vehicle. A livestream from the scene captured the shots and the aftermath — but did not show the shooter. Witnesses said on the livestream that armed protesters guarding the protest zone’s barricades had fired at the Jeep. No arrests have been made nor charges filed.
Mays traveled to Seattle from southern California, where he left a note for his father saying he was joining the civil rights movement. He did not tell his father where he was going, only that he wanted to make him “proud.” Mays Sr. filed a missing persons report with the Los Angeles Police Department the same day he found the note.
Less than 10 days later, Mays was dead. The 14-year-old, who was also shot, survived after witnesses brought him to a hospital.
King County Superior Court Judge Sean O’Donnell barred the city from presenting a defense that it was not liable because Mays was committing a felony — stealing the Jeep — at the time he was killed. Even if the city proved Mays had stolen the Jeep, O’Donnell ruled, there’s no proof that he was killed because of it.
In a statement Thursday the city attorney’s office called the death a tragedy and said it was considering its legal options.
I feel like the guy in the famous commercial attempting to settle the boisterous debate over whether their beverage is best because it “tastes great” or is “less filling” by shouting over their chants: “IT IS BOTH!”
Are you someone who declares Seattle weather’s great when skies are less filled with clouds? Are you instead someone who insists it’s Seattle’s fresh rainfall that tastes great?
It is rare that we can squeeze a heat wave AND rain streak into the same week forecast around here, but whether you’re a sun fan, or a rain fan, this budding forecast’s FOR YOU!*
(*YES, I know I’m mixing my brand slogans**.)
(**Also Gen Z: Ask your parents or nearest Gen X family member. It’ll slay for sure.***)
(*** That last comment was approved by my Gen Z daughter, though with an epic eyeroll.)
IT’S OK. THIS ANALOGY IS JUST PROBABLY NOT THE CHOICE OF THE NEW GENERATION….
Fair point, back to the weather: It’s another heat wave up first and Seattle will be set to ‘Do the Stew.’
In fact, this entire heat event looks like someone just stole the script from last week, only shoved it back a day. Sunday will jump in warmth and reach around the upper 70s to low 80s in Seattle with brief, if any morning clouds. Can’t ask for better weather for Father’s Day.
Our warm, easterly wind will start to energize on Monday which will end up being a warm-to-hot day across Western Washington. Highs should reach the 80s everywhere (even the coast) with upper 80s likely in the Seattle/Puget Sound area. If you want to “follow the script,” that would match the day Seattle hit 89 last week.
Tuesday is expected to be the hottest day of the week with highs reaching into the low 90s in the Puget Sound area (Seattle: 91 last week on peak day), and mid 90s south and east. The coast will start warm but cool off quick during the day.
A Heat Advisory is in effect for Monday and Tuesday for all of Western Washington except the coast where you won’t be hot enough to have heat concerns.
HI. I WANT MY SEATTLE SKIES WITH *MORE* FILLING….
Can do! We’ll begin the cooling process on Wednesday as the marine winds start to push their way into the I-5 corridor. Right now, it’s not a big push then, but it should be enough to get Seattle back into the 80s (FEELS LIKE WE’RE ALREADY IN THE 80s WITH THESE JOKES). It still looks very toasty for the next World Cup game at Lume…er…”Seattle Stadium.”
A stronger marine push comes for Thursday which should end up pretty similar to this Saturday with the morning clouds then sun with highs back into the 70s — though clouds will increase late in the day because…
Rain returns to the forecast for the first time in a few weeks for the end of the week. Long range models are getting more sold on the idea of an area of low pressure developing off B.C.’s Haida Gwaii on Friday and pushing a front through our area that would bring periods of light rain and much cooler temperatures that would stay in the 60s.
That low is then pegged to drop down the B.C. coast and move right through Western Washington on Saturday, peppering us with scattered showers through the weekend (especially Saturday) as highs stay in the 60s.
There is a weak signal for some potential thunderstorms Saturday so we’ll keep an eye there.
Drier and warmer weather returns for the start of next week with what initially look like fairly comfortable temperatures as we near the start of July. No matter if you like rain or heat, that should give most folk a smile.
Social media is absolutely flooded with the images, video and words showing a vibrant city and region full of the joys of our soccer heritage. The supposedly dying city of Seattle put on an exceptional show for the world’s game and once again is convincing USMNT players to consider the Sounders for their next stop.
None of that happens with a suburban stadium in Renton. None of it.
The championship banners in Lumen? They’d be gone, reducing the symbols of local soccer excellence from the TV feed.
All those packed local bars with their Sounders scarves, posters and kits? Gone.
This isn’t a hypothetical. Plenty of MLS teams are in metro areas hosting the World Cup. The other US MLS teams aren’t getting this kind of love. LA hosted a bigger US win, but that match experience was not an advertisement for the Galaxy or LAFC.
When Santa Clara hosts the Round of 32 match you are not going to hear a word about the 50-year-old San Jose Earthquakes. If the US advances to the semis in Arlington you won’t hear a peep about FC Dallas. If they make the final in East Rutherford the Red Bulls will be a footnote.
But when the world’s game comes to Seattle the Sounders are the conversation, because this team is in the heart of a city and region that loves it.
Ripping the Sounders away from these types of moments for revenue control while eliminating the free marketing to players and fans is laughable. Renton’s Legacy Square is doing a wonderful job for thousands of visitors a week. It is not Seattle. Nor is Southcenter’s shows in Tukwila.
Moments like Friday, the future Women’s World Cup matches and maybe even a US Round of 16 with hundreds of thousands of people experiencing Seattle’s soccer culture are only possible while soccer is a major tenant in a downtown stadium.
It’s why Don Garber praises the Sounders, and hardly ever mentions the flood of owners who built tiny houses in the burbs. “MLS isn’t what it is without the Sounders.”
The Sounders aren’t what they are without Lumen Field in Seattle. Full stop.
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Catching up on Sounder at Heart
Here’s what you missed on the site this week.
World Cup
Next Seattle match: Wednesday, June 24 between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Qatar.
Sounders
Next match: July 16 hosting Portland Timbers during rivalry week.
Reign
Next match: July 4 at North Carolina
Defiance
Next match: June 21 vs Real Monarchs.
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Looking back at the news
Everything else you need to know
World Cup
NWSL and women’s soccer
Puget Sound and other stuff
Ranger Suarez carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 6-2 on Friday night.
Suarez (3-3) struck out five and walked three in 6 2/3 innings. His no-hit bid ended with Josh Naylor’s one-out double in the seventh.
The 30-year-old lefty earned his first win since April 27 against Toronto.
Caleb Durbin put the Red Sox ahead with a second-inning solo homer, his fifth of the year. Durbin had his second three-hit game this season, with his first coming against Tampa Bay on June 10.
Ceddanne Rafaela scored on a wild pitch in the seventh, and Marcelo Mayer drove in two more runs with a bases-loaded single.
Carlos Narváez added a sacrifice fly before Seattle finally escaped the inning on a diving catch by Dominic Canzone in right field.
Suarez issued a two-out walk that loaded the bases in the seventh on his final pitch of the night, but Justin Slaten ended the threat by striking out pinch-hitter J.P. Crawford to preserve a 5-0 lead.
Mayer added one more insurance run with a ninth-inning RBI double. The Mariners got on the board thanks to Julio Rodríguez’s two-run homer in the ninth.
Seattle starter Bryce Miller (3-1) struck out seven in five innings. He allowed three hits and one run.
Luis Castillo, who has started in all but three of his 258 career appearances, gave up five runs in four innings of relief as the Mariners revived their “piggyback” rotation.
Up next
Red Sox LHP Connelly Early (5-5, 3.81 ERA) starts opposite Mariners RHP Emerson Hancock (5-3, 3.28) on Saturday night.
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