Seattle, WA
‘Appearance of segregation’ at Seattle Police Department, captain says in lawsuit
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Seattle Police Captain Eric Greening filed a lawsuit against Chief Adrian Diaz on Monday, alleging that Diaz discriminated against women and people of color at the department.
Greening also claims that Diaz retaliated against him for bringing issues of bias to the chief’s attention, despite Greening being in a position that required him to do so.
Greening, a Black man, has been with Seattle Police for nearly 30 years. He previously held the role of assistant chief, intermittently served as acting chief, and was a finalist for the role of police chief before Mayor Bruce Harrell chose Diaz for the job.
He’s also the third former assistant chief to accuse Diaz of racist and sexist behavior in lawsuits. Diaz demoted all three former assistant chiefs prior to their legal claims. Former Assistant Chief Steve Hirjak settled for $600,000 in 2023.
Additionally, four female cops sued Diaz last month, alleging sex discrimination, harassment, and grooming.
This latest lawsuit paints the chief as unwilling to hear sincere advice, even from Greening, a longtime colleague. Greening’s claims echo a warning police have shared amongst themselves since 2020, when Diaz took power: Don’t disagree with the chief, or you may face retaliation.
Greening claims Diaz harmed his reputation, caused him shame and embarrassment, and diminished future career prospects. He now has trouble sleeping and is anxious about further retaliation from Diaz, his attorney Toby Marshall wrote in the lawsuit.
“He feels humiliated,” Marshall wrote.
A spokesperson with the Seattle City Attorney’s Office said they’re unable to comment on pending litigation.
The Seattle Police Department did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
‘Appearance of segregation’
According to the lawsuit, in September 2021, Greening told Diaz that the department discriminated against female and BIPOC officers by assigning them to community outreach work, but not their white male colleagues.
At the time, Greening led the Collaborative Policing Bureau — a department that leads community outreach — and sat on a race and social justice team. In these roles, Greening was expected to raise racism and gender bias issues to Diaz and propose solutions.
Greening told the chief he worried about “the appearance of segregation” within the department, and about “cultural taxation,” which is extra work placed on underrepresented groups pertaining to equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Greening raised concerns about discrimination again, when he was interviewed as part of a complaint filed by former Assistant Chief Steve Hirjak in November 2021.
Hirjak alleged Diaz and the department treated him differently because of his race, and retaliated against him. Greening said Hirjak received fewer resources and support as incident commander, compared to his white colleagues, and that Hirjak and other female and BIPOC command staff members were left out of decision making.
Two months later, in January 2022, Greening told Diaz that he believed he, the chief, discriminated against Black supervisors by circumventing them and making direct requests to their subordinates — including his own.
In the same meeting, Diaz, according to the lawsuit, said he’d heard rumors about “the good old boys” in command staff.
According to the lawsuit, “Greening responded by saying that there was truth to the assertion because Chief Diaz took counsel from only the white men in command staff, leaving the two female assistant chiefs and Mr. Greening as the “out group.”
Greening told Diaz that while the department was diverse, “it was only inclusive when convenient to the dominant power group,” the lawsuit states.
He handed Diaz, who is Latino, a copy of the Continuum of Becoming an Anti-Racist Multicultural Organization — a chart that outlines the six phases of becoming an anti-racist multicultural department.
“I can’t fix all of this,” Diaz responded, according to the lawsuit.
Greening raised concerns he had about discriminatory practices at Seattle Police, including those allegedly committed by Diaz, with human resources and the city ombuds office in 2022 and 2023.
In January 2023, Greening asked Diaz to release him of his responsibilities as lead of the department’s race and social justice team, a role no white person has ever held.
Then he handed Diaz a research article about cultural taxation.
After this meeting Greening claims that Diaz soured against him.
When Diaz was made permanent chief in January 2023, and on the hunt for a deputy, Greening told Diaz about his interest in the position and applied.
Diaz ignored his request and chose Eric Barden, a white man, instead.
Diaz demoted Greening in July, which resulted in a $27,000 pay cut and reduced the value of future pension payments.
Diaz abolished the outreach bureau that Greening led for two years, and moved him to the Force Review Unit, where he oversaw less than 10 employees and had no contact with the public.
Greening filed a retaliation complaint against Diaz with Seattle’s Office of Inspector General for Public Safety two months after his demotion, in September. An outside attorney has been hired to investigate the complaint.
But like other complaints made against Diaz, there’s been no resolution.
Last July, several Office of Police Accountability complaints accused Diaz of hiring a woman he allegedly had an affair with to be a top-level advisor. The case has remained at the intake level for 10 months — a long time when compared to complaints against members of the Seattle Police Officer Guild, which are held to an intake deadline of 30 days.
Diaz has faced no immediate consequences despite seven colleagues and four lawsuits coming out against him.
Mayor Harrell said in April that he would hire an outside consultant to examine sexism and harassment allegations against Diaz, but that it could take “months and months” because he wanted to allow for “due process.”
Three city council members have made statements about their concern over these allegations, chief among them Rob Saka, who was the first to speak out vociferously.
“That type of behavior has no place in our police department,” he wrote. “I plan to exercise my oversight authority to get to the bottom of these culture issues. To that end, I support the women on the force and plan to be in conversation about what we can do as a city to better support them.”
The NFL draft is less than three weeks away, and one of the things I keep hearing is people excited about the idea of the Seattle Seahawks trading up from pick No. 32 in the first round.
Stacy Rost: What we can learn from Seahawks’ NFL Draft history
I’m not necessarily opposed the idea of trading up, but I want to throw two big caveats in that. One, I’m not giving up any of the picks from next year, certainly not next year’s first round. Next year is supposed to be an incredible draft. This is supposed to be a mediocre draft where there are starters, not stars. If you got the opportunity to get stars next year, I want to take as many of those as possible, so please do not trade away certainly your first-round pick for next year.
But then Brock Huard has brought up this whole idea of trading up for Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love because he’s the best player in the draft. He might very well be right that he is. You know what I just can’t get myself to agree to? It’s trading up for a running back and certainly not trading next year’s first-round pick and this year’s first-round pick and probably more than that to get up into the top 10 for a running back, for a skill-position guy.
Should Seahawks consider trading up for NFL Draft’s top RB?
Look, you were just barely able to keep me on board with paying $225 million for wide receivers Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Rashid Shaheed knowing that you’re gonna be spending a whole bunch of money on cornerback Devon Witherspoon. I love all those players. I get nervous about spending that much money that far away from the line of scrimmage.
You wanna now go trade two first-round picks and try to get a running back? I’m sorry, that’s where you lose me. I just can’t go that far. I don’t care how good he is. I’m out.
This post is a transcript of the video at the top of the post. It is edited for clarity. Catch Mike Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.
Seattle Seahawks offseason coverage
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• What GM said about Seahawks making ‘Hard Knocks’ debut
• Why Daniel Jeremiah isn’t concerned about Seattle Seahawks’ FA losses
• Why Macdonald envisions Shaheed as bigger WR threat in ’26
• Stacy Rost: Who makes most sense to play Seahawks in NFL opener
If you live in the Fauntleroy-area neighborhood where Seattle City Light is working on long-needed underground repairs and updates, Brace Point, you’ve probably closely followed their progress. For those who haven’t, here’s the latest of SCL’s periodic updates:
Seattle City Light contractors continue to work on the underground electrical infrastructure serving the Brace Point neighborhood. They are installing new duct banks, conduits, cables, vaults, and streetlights. The new infrastructure will help reduce the risk of outages and improve service for residents.
Underground civil construction is approximately 32% complete. Our crews have installed 3,470 linear feet of conduit and 13 underground electrical vaults. We expect to finish most civil construction by the end of 2026. After that, crews will focus on cleaning staging areas and restoring the project area to the same, if not better, condition.
You can reach our team at bracepointcable@stephersonassociates.com or 206-312-0021.
If you would like to talk to a member of the project team in person, you can find us in the upstairs meeting room at the Southwest Branch of the Seattle Public Library on Wednesday, April 8 from 12-1 PM.
Current work areas:
Southwest Brace Point Drive: Crews are working near the intersection of 46th Ave. SW and SW Brace Point Drive.
47th Ave. Southwest: Crews are working north along 47th Ave. SW near the intersection of 46th Ave. SW and SW Roxbury St. Please drive carefully through this intersection and expect changing traffic patterns as the work progresses.
Longer than usual delays: Concrete pours are scheduled to occur on Wednesdays from 8 AM – 2 PM for the remainder of the project. Due to the narrow streets, trucks may have to park in the right-of-way. Please plan for longer than normal delays during these times.
Pedestrian trail: Crews are running new conduit and replacing the streetlight on the trail between 47th Ave.
Southwest to 48th Ave. Southwest. The trail is closed and expected to reopen in mid-April, once crews have finished the foundation for the new light pole. They will restore any areas disturbed by the project to City standards.Upcoming work areas
46th Ave. Southwest: After crews complete work on Brace Point Drive, they will start utility work on the segment of 46th Ave SW between Brace Point Drive and the intersection of SW Roxbury St and 47th Ave SW.
47th Ave. Southwest: This spring, crews will start working near the south end of 47th Ave. SW and work north towards the intersection of SW 98th St.
The work finally started last fall, five years after the originally projected start date.
Video shows man allegedly try to push stranger in front of train
Immediate mental health help is available in the U.S. by calling or texting 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
A man was charged with attempted murder after a video appeared to show him attempting to push a person in front of a moving train. The moment was captured on surveillance camera footage.
The incident occurred on the Northgate light rail station in Seattle on March 19, as a train was pulling up, according to Storyful.
The video shows a man wearing a black hoodie standing behind a stranger who was on his phone. The man watches the train tracks, and as the train comes into view in the video, the man then pushes the victim, who stumbles forward. When the victim regains his balance, the suspect attempts to push him again and then flees the scene. The victim was able to hold his footing and appears to follow the man.
See shocking video of the attack
Suspect ordered mental health evaluation
Detectives later found the suspect, identified as Elisio Melendez, at a “mental health community facility where he lived,” according to the King County Prosecutor’s Office.
Melendez was later charged with attempted murder in the second degree and is being held on a $750,000 bail, according to King County arrest records obtained by USA TODAY.
Melendez, whose defense team stated has a history of mental illness, reported KOMO News, was ordered to undergo mental health evaluations during his arraignment on Tuesday, March 31.
USA TODAY has reached out to Melendez’s attorney for comment.
Immediate mental health help is available in the U.S. by calling or texting 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Julia Gomez is a Trending reporter for USA TODAY and covers popular toys, space phenomena, scientific studies, natural disasters, holidays, and trending news. Connect with her on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and TikTok: @juliamariegz, or email her at jgomez@gannett.com.
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