The Seattle Police’s lawyers have been mighty pleased this week, after two

Published 9:57 pm Friday, August 2, 2013

The Seattle Police’s lawyers have been mighty pleased this week, after two rulings found that their clients’ abusive behavior wasn’t abusive enough to be considered unconstitutionally abusive.

Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly tossed out a civil rights lawsuit brought by a Seattle man who was held at gunpoint by off-duty police officer Donald Waters after the two got into a confrontation in a West Seattle alley way.

You can read our full account of the nasty incident here, but to sum up, Waters blew a gasket when he tried to avert traffic by ducking into the alleyway only to find Evan Sargent’s truck parked there while Sargent was inside a business picking up laundry. Waters got out of his car and smashed one of Sargent’s rearview mirror before Sargent grabbed a small bat to ward him off. That’s when the gun came out.

According to the Seattle Times, Judge Zilly admonished Waters for not walking away from the 19-year-old and instead escalating the situation, but found that once the bat came out the incident became an assault and Waters was in his rights to detain the teenager.

Then today, Kimberly Mills with the Seattle City Attorney’s Office informed us that case brought James Egan on behalf of two Hispanic men who were pulled over for speeding in Capitol Hill in 2010 has been largely dismissed.

According to Mills, Judge Bruce Heller dismissed all civil rights claims and state law claims brought by Egan but for one that caries no “potential for punitive damages and will be limited to the value of the loss of a vehicle over a weekend.”

Again in the incident, the cops went from zero to ballistic with the suspects, assailing them with a volley of verbal insults, including this coup de gras: “The badge is the only thing preventing me from skull fucking you and dragging you down the street.” Lest we overlook the violence of that statement, Urban Dictionary defines the term “skull fuck” as: “A derogatory term used to describer the violet insertion of the penis into the mouth. In most cases, the male or female on the giving end makes little movement, while the participant on the giving end thrusts their hips.”

So, good week for the SPD.