Seattle, WA
Matchday | Thorns in search of fifth-straight win, host Seattle Reign FC | Portland Thorns FC
Portland Thorns FC (4th, 4-3-1, 13pts) have turned it up in the last four matches. A perfect four wins from four matches, they now wait in the comforts of Providence Park for their next opponent: Seattle Reign FC (11th, 2-5-0, 6pts). Kickoff is set for 7pm PT with streaming on ION.
đïž PROVIDENCE PARK: Need tickets? **Click here** to secure your seats.
Seattle, WA
âAppearance of segregationâ 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 chiefâs 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.
Heâs 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. Greeningâs claims echo a warning police have shared amongst themselves since 2020, when Diaz took power: Donât 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.
âHe feels humiliated,â Marshall wrote.
A spokesperson with the Seattle City Attorneyâs Office said they’re unable to comment on pending litigation.
The Seattle Police Department did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
âAppearance of segregationâ
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 â a department that leads community outreach â 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 âthe appearance of segregationâ within the department, and about âcultural taxation,â 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 â including his own.
In the same meeting, Diaz, according to the lawsuit, said heâd heard rumors about âthe good old boysâ in command staff.
According to the lawsuit, âGreening 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 âout group.â
Greening told Diaz that while the department was diverse, âit was only inclusive when convenient to the dominant power group,â the lawsuit states.
He handed Diaz, who is Latino, a copy of the Continuum of Becoming an Anti-Racist Multicultural Organization â a chart that outlines the six phases of becoming an anti-racist multicultural department.
âI canât fix all of this,â 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 departmentâs 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 Seattleâs 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, thereâs 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 â 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 âmonths and monthsâ because he wanted to allow for âdue process.â
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.
âThat type of behavior has no place in our police department,â he wrote. âI 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.â
Seattle, WA
New York hosts Seattle following Loydâs 24-point game – WTOP News
Seattle Storm (1-2, 0-2 Western Conference) at New York Liberty (3-0, 3-0 Eastern Conference) New York; Monday, 7 p.m. EDTâŠ
Seattle Storm (1-2, 0-2 Western Conference) at New York Liberty (3-0, 3-0 Eastern Conference)
New York; Monday, 7 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Seattle Storm takes on the New York Liberty after Jewell Loyd scored 24 points in the Stormâs 84-75 victory against the Washington Mystics.
New York finished 15-5 at home a season ago while going 32-8 overall. The Liberty averaged 6.7 steals, 4.5 blocks and 13.5 turnovers per game last season.
Seattle went 11-29 overall last season while going 7-13 on the road. The Storm averaged 78.8 points per game last season, 14.6 from the free-throw line and 25.5 from beyond the arc.
INJURIES: Liberty: None listed.
Storm: MacKenzie Holmes: out for season (knee).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Copyright
© 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
Seattle, WA
Banda scores twice as Pride prevail at Seattle to stay atop NWSL
Barbra Banda scored two goals on Sunday as the Orlando Pride defeated the Seattle Reign 3-2 at Lumen Field, putting them at the top of the NWSL to close out the weekend.
The Pride (7-0-3) remain undefeated and have won seven straight games, tying a league record set by the Reign in 2014. The Pride and the Kansas City Current are the lone two undefeated teams this season.
âI think most importantly, thereâs the win â and a win away from home as well,â Pride coach Seb Hines said. âItâs something we talked about last year, picking up more points away from home.â
Emily Sams opened the scoring for the Pride in the 9th minute, scoring her first professional goal from the top of the box.
Banda headed in Adrianaâs cross 10 minutes later, doubling Orlandoâs lead.
Angharad James-Turnerâs shot was deflected into the upper right corner just before the halftime whistle, putting Seattle on the board.
Just a few minutes into the second half, Bethany Balcer equalized for the Reign (2-7-1). Jess Fishlock sent a pass over the top, which Balcer ran onto and finished into the left corner for her fourth goal of the year.
A Pride corner kick in the 58th minute bounced once in the box before Banda volleyed in her second goal of the match.
âI thought the first 43 minutes of the game we were really good,â Hines said. âI thought we played some terrific football, played some good lines, caused Seattle a lot of problems. And to concede so late on in the first half is something that we need to reflect and review moving forward. The second half, it was a grind. It was great determination, getting through that adversity, as well, [after] conceding so early in the second half to come back and get that third goal was really important for us.â
Banda has six goals and two assists in just five NWSL starts.
Balcer received a second yellow card in the 83rd minute and will miss the Reignâs next game.
If you go âŠ
Pride vs. Thorns
When: Friday at Inter&Co Stadium, 7
TV: Bally Sports Florida
-
News1 week ago
Skeletal remains found almost 40 years ago identified as woman who disappeared in 1968
-
World1 week ago
India Lok Sabha election 2024 Phase 4: Who votes and whatâs at stake?
-
Movie Reviews1 week ago
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”: Disney's New Kingdom is Far From Magical (Movie Review)
-
World1 week ago
Ukraineâs military chief admits âdifficult situationâ in Kharkiv region
-
Politics1 week ago
Tales from the trail: The blue states Trump eyes to turn red in November
-
World1 week ago
Borrell: Spain, Ireland and others could recognise Palestine on 21 May
-
World1 week ago
Catalans vote in crucial regional election for the separatist movement
-
Politics1 week ago
North Dakota gov, former presidential candidate Doug Burgum front and center at Trump New Jersey rally