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Something not embarrassing

Sun., June 7, 2020

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By Dylan McKinley TownnewsPubs By Dylan McKinley TownnewsPubs

Spokane sheriff, police chief blame Sunday’s violence on outside agitators

Brief head

Spokane police Chief Creig Meidl speaks during a news conference outside the damaged Nike store on Main Avenue on Monday, June 1, 2020. Meidl is flanked, from left, by Spokane NAACP President Kurtis Robinson; pastor Shon Davis; Phil Tyler, past president of the Spokane NAACP; community organizer Kitara Johnson; Spokane City Councilwoman Betsy Wilkerson; pastor Lonnie Mitchell; and Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)

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By Adam Shanks

Chad Sokol

and Emma Epperly

The Spokesman-Review

Law enforcement officials and leaders of Spokane’s Black community blamed Sunday night’s rioting, looting and property damage on outside agitators who “hijacked” what had been a day of mostly peaceful protests.

But the scope of the involvement of organizers outside Spokane remains difficult to quantify, and police on Monday downplayed the presence of far-right agitators and militia members who roamed the downtown core with rifles and body armor.

Nonviolent demonstrations at the Spokane County Courthouse and the Red Wagon in Riverfront Park were “definitely hijacked,” Kurtis Robinson, president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP, said during a news conference with the city’s mayor and police chief.

“What we saw here was some fringe groups,” Robinson said. “Some of them were bused in, some of them were planted here, and maybe even some of them might actually be some Spokanites that were kind of talked into it.”

Mayor Nadine Woodward echoed that during the news conference outside the Nike store on Main Avenue.

“Another group showed up – the rioters and the looters who broke business windows, tagged many buildings, looted the Nike store behind us and refused police orders to disperse,” Woodward said. “That is not Spokane.”

Spokane police Chief Craig Meidl said preparations began “quite a while ago” for Sunday’s events. He said police had intelligence on plans for “antagonists coming into the area with the intent of provoking law enforcement into a confrontation.”

Meidl noted the presence of antifascist or “antifa” demonstrators on Sunday. There were “some antifa” downtown wearing “masks that said antifa,” and a woman with a bullhorn “espousing antifa rhetoric, as well, trying to stir up the crowd,” he said.

Later Monday, Meidl acknowledged to Spokane City Council members in a meeting of the Public Safety and Community Health Committee that many of those participating in the demonstration were “local, homegrown” residents of Spokane with “some from outside spinning things up.”

Council President Breean Beggs asked Meidl how police were separating peaceful protesters from those participating in violence and vandalism.

“The short answer is there is absolutely no way to separate those in that kind of environment,” Meidl answered.

Officers in the River Park Square area were outnumbered about 20 to one, Meidl estimated. At that deficit, there’s “no way you can go in and start picking out” the people committing crimes, he said.

The choice officers were left with, Meidl said, was to allow people to continue looting, “using peaceful protesters as a shield,” or take more aggressive action.

Julie Humphreys, a police spokeswoman, told The Spokesman-Review that of the 15 people arrested Sunday night, “I’m sure there’s plenty from Spokane.” It’s not the department’s position that the unrest was caused solely by outsiders, though they played a role, she said.

“At some point, no, it was people in our city, and we don’t want to discount that,” Humphreys said. Video of the incidents will play a key role, she added. “We’re open to look at whoever it is.”

During a news conference Monday afternoon, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich blamed the rioting almost solely on antifa agitators from the Portland area.

“This was not our African American community,” Knezovich said.

Local authorities have been working with the FBI and confidential informants to investigate those responsible for the rioting, Knezovich said.

“I can tell you that they came in three vehicles,” he said. “They were wearing communication headsets. They were using Motorola channel 4 to do their coordination. And it was coordinated.”