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Seattle ordered to pay over $30 million for fatal shooting of teen in 2020 protest

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Seattle ordered to pay over  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.

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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.

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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.



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Need to shred? Free drive-up/ride-up shredding Wednesday at Village Green West Seattle

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Need to shred? Free drive-up/ride-up shredding Wednesday at Village Green West Seattle


With the tax deadline just past, you might have old paper documents you’re ready to shred and recycle. Just announced – a chance to do that for free this Wednesday (April 22), 1-4 pm!

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Got sensitive documents piling up at home? We’ve got you covered! Join us for a FREE community shredding event with Liberty Shredding at Village Green West Seattle!

Secure, on‑site shredding

FREE (up to 3 boxes per person)

Just drive up and shred with confidence! Hearthside Driveway (building two)

Village Green West Seattle (WSB sponsor) is at 2615 SW Barton.





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WEST SEATTLE WEATHER: Warm day, but far below record

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WEST SEATTLE WEATHER: Warm day, but far below record


Thanks to Carrie Brown for the westward view of our Saturday night sunset. The high today hit 68 at the airport – eight degrees above normal – but nowhere near the record for this date, which was 89 degrees back in 2016. The forecast suggests two more days of partly sunny, almost-70-degree weather, before the chance of rain returns.

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Mets place former Seattle Mariners 2B/DH Jorge Polanco on IL

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Mets place former Seattle Mariners 2B/DH Jorge Polanco on IL


CHICAGO (AP) — The struggling New York Mets placed former Seattle Mariners second baseman/designated hitter Jorge Polanco on the 10-day injured list on Saturday with a right wrist contusion.

Mariners Injury Update: Latest on Robles, Vargas and more

The move was made retroactive to Wednesday, a day after Polanco went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in a 2-1 loss at the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 32-year-old Polanco is batting .179 (10 for 56) with a homer and two RBIs in his first season with New York, which has lost nine straight.

“When doctors first took a look at him, it looked like he got hit by a pitch when he didn’t,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “In talking to him, it was just a couple of swings that he took that night. … He didn’t think much of it, but just got worse the following day.

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“So you just got to let it calm down a little bit and then we’ll go from there. But we don’t have a timetable for how long this is going to last.”

Polanco, who signed a two-year, $40 million contract with the Mets in December, also has been dealing with an ankle issue.

“He was trending in the right direction,” Mendoza said of the ankle injury. “It’s definitely going to help, obviously now with him being shut down. But the biggest thing now is that we’ve got to take care of that wrist.”

Polanco spent the previous two seasons with the Mariners, who acquired him in a February 2024 trade with the Minnesota Twins.

Polanco struggled during his first season with Seattle in 2024, hitting just .213 with 16 homers in 118 games while playing through a knee injury that didn’t become public knowledge until after the season.

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But after the Mariners somewhat surprisingly brought him back for a one-year contract in 2025, Polanco rebounded to hit .265 with 26 homers and an .821 OPS in 138 games last season. He then added three homers during Seattle’s playoff run, along with a 15th-inning walkoff single in Game 5 of the American League Division Series that sent the Mariners to their first ALCS in 24 years.

Seattle Sports staff made additions to this post.

Mariners RHP Bryce Miller to begin rehab assignment




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