Police say officer injured, two arrested as police step into clash between private security team and Capitol Hill protesters
Seattle WA Aug 14 2020
An officer was reported injured and two people were arrested after police say there were forced to intervene in a clash between a small group of protesters and private security on the eastern edge of Cal Anderson Park late Wednesday night.
A witness tells CHS the officer was splinted at the scene by members of the security patrol. A Seattle Police Department spokesperson says the injury required the officer to be taken to the hospital but Seattle Fire was not dispatched to the scene, according to 911 records.
The 11th Ave melee was set off after a patrol vehicle from private security firm Iconic Global nearly hit a small group of protesters gathered near a building at 11th and E Olive St, according to video from the scene and the witness account. Police say it was not clear why the security company was responding but that police had to intervene as the scene became heated between the protest group and the heavily armed security team.
UPDATE: A member of the Iconic Global tells CHS the arrival of an unmarked blue Yukon with SWAT officers — and a different vehicle-protester close call with the Yukon also nearly striking people in the area — also contributed to the tense scene.
As the crowd became more agitated over the presence of Iconic Global and the SWAT officers, the security team member said one protester rushed forward with a skateboard and was grabbed by police.
SPD tells CHS they were in the process of taking that protester into custody during the response when another rushed in and the officer was injured.
SPD says two women were arrested and booked into King County jail in the incident.
Iconic Global is one of at least three different security firms CHS has documented now working in the Pike/Pine area with heavily armed guards and a fleet of marked and unmarked vehicles that are often mistaken for police or law enforcement officials.
Their presence began this spring at buildings boarded during the COVID-19 restrictions as property management companies sought increased security for empty restaurants and storefronts. The guards were typically uniformed and often armed with a handgun. Some became part of the odd city nighttime scenes of COVID-era Pike/Pine as they kicked back on store furniture and watched videos on their phones in darkened showrooms.
UPDATE: The owner of another private security firm working out of the Odd Fellows Building at 10th and E Pine tells CHS that SPD’s fast and heavy response Wednesday night came after he reported threats made against his firm and a business in the building they patrol. Aleksandr Butowicz of Iron and Oak tells CHS that threats were made against his company and the business and that he notified SPD. Butowicz said he was also contacted by Homeland Security about the report. Butowicz says his personnel were not part of the security response that set off the 11th Ave conflict. “Iconic has been really aggressive with their overall handling of folks. We focus on deescalation,” Butowicz said. He reports that Iron and Oak guards aren’t armed with firearms — their weapons fire pepper spray rounds, Butowicz said. “I don’t really believe in firing guns in the most densely populated area of Seattle,” he said.
With CHOP, the presence of the security firms has escalated. CHS reported here on the arrival of Iconic Global along 12th Ave where the private “high threat protection” team became part of the heavy security around a collection of businesses and properties on the edge of the protest zone.
