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Two nights of violence leave injuries, damage, arrests

Monday, February 26, 2001

By LEWIS KAMB, TOM PAULSON AND ANGELA GALLOWAY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS

Mardi Gras turned peaceful last night as Seattle police quickly dispersed a small crowd in Pioneer Square, heading off a potential third straight night of violence.

Revelers who congregated in the open areas of the historic square hastily obeyed orders from police, conveyed by bullhorn at about 12:20 a.m., to leave the area.

NOTE: This article has been updated since it was originally published in the newspaper.

Police had been ready to beef up uniformed patrols as the weeklong bacchanal continued despite violent confrontations that began Friday night and escalated late Saturday.

In those clashes, authorities apprehended more than a dozen people -- formally charging at least six of them -- as riot police clashed with rowdy revelers in the downtown nightclub district.

Lavish outdoor celebrations deteriorated both nights, leading to intense riots that culminated with scores of police officers firing tear gas, rubber bullets and other projectiles into unruly crowds.

Before most partygoers had dispersed each night, a small but aggressive faction within their ranks had shattered dozens of windows and damaged cars and other property.

	Seattle police officers dressed in riot gear pass the shattered windows of a grocery store at Second Avenue and Yester Way early Sunday morning. Dan DeLong / Seattle Post-Intelligencer Click for larger photo Click for more photos from Saturday night

At least six officers suffered injuries during the two nights of violence, two seriously.

A West Precinct patrolman was left with a broken jaw Friday night after he was struck by a hurled bottle. And a veteran sergeant's arm was broken late Saturday while he wrestled with a suspected looter.

By contrast, Sunday night's activity was significantly reduced, with fewer partygoers in the streets.

Sgt. David Abe of the Seattle police reported no arrests, but said three males were detained and questioned as the result of a report that they were waving a gun from a vehicle.

Police were prepared to once again organize teams of SWAT and horse-mounted officers to join foot and bicycle patrols. Plans were to block traffic from the area.

But even as Mayor Paul Schell and police Chief Gil Kerlikowske walked a lunchtime tour of the area yesterday, assuring the public that further violence would not be tolerated, Pioneer Square proprietors and carnival patrons provided conflicting opinions over whether police presence during Mardi Gras festivities served to deter, or only incite, acts of violence.

"Police should only be commended," said Gaye Anderson, owner of the New Orleans restaurant and tavern on First Avenue. "They've made sure we've had a safe party."

But to Terri Robison, a long-time employee of the Merchant's Cafe bar on Yesler Way, troubles have only increased with a large presence of riot officers ready for confrontation.

"I think they need to treat this more like a party atmosphere than to basically attack everyone to get them off the streets," she said.

After chaos erupted late Saturday, vicious street fights and random hooliganism broke out along side streets and in alleyways leading from Seattle's oldest neighborhood.

Vandals used everything from rocks to skateboards to smash through windows of several businesses, and violent bands of young men cruised the area on foot, battering parked cars, Metro buses and newspaper stands with fists, kicks, sticks and rocks.

During a fluid series of confrontations that pushed from street to street, a rowdy faction within the masses hurled rocks, bottles and fireworks at police.

Officers responded with showers of pepper spray and rubber bullets and by launching canisters of tear gas and percussion bombs that sent crowds scurrying for cover.

The violence erupted about 1 a.m. at First Avenue and Yesler Way after patrol officers on bicycle chased down and tackled a man who police say brandished a handgun while running toward the teeming square.

In the ensuing chaos, authorities say rioters looted the nearby North Face store and at least one men's clothing shop.

Seattle police had beefed up uniformed personnel around Pioneer Square Saturday night in response to Friday's violence. The first night's celebrations turned violent when, they said, crowds of revelers refused to leave the area and began throwing objects and blocking traffic.

Saturday night, police on foot, horseback and bicycle patrolled through crowds that had gathered in the square by 11 p.m. Early on, revelers and officers co-existed largely without incident.

Partygoers dressed in lavish feather boas, costume masks and other festive attire slowly mingled in the area, tossing glittering strands of carnival beads and hooting encouragement to young women to lift their shirts in the spirit of Mardi Gras.

But as the event pushed toward midnight and the crowds swelled, tensions mounted.

By 11:30 p.m., the first signs of violence emerged when a string of firecrackers was tossed behind five officers mounted on horses that reared and stamped their hooves at the explosions behind them. A young man was apprehended, grabbed by the shirt collar and dragged on his feet alongside one mounted officer.

An hour later, when the crowd had grown and spilled from Pioneer Square's cobble-stone plaza into the northbound lane of First Avenue, police already had begun blocking off streets leading into the area with patrol cars and Metro buses.

Skirmishes along street corners soon began to break out. When a man raced across First Avenue toward an aggressive group of young men at the edge of the square about 1 a.m., several officers intercepted him and tackled him to the pavement. Police say the darting man had a gun.

Immediately, crowds of onlookers pushed in around police, and several officers pulled out cans of pepper spray and began dousing people.

Within seconds, chaos erupted. Aggressive members of the crowd chucked bottles and rocks. Windows shattered and trash cans were overturned. Fireworks exploded.

And police launched percussion bombs and canisters of tear gas that left many in the crowd gasping and choking while fleeing in all directions.

Police lines methodically pushed and divided the crowd -- mostly toward the east -- clashing with smaller groups on several different fronts as they proceeded. Cliques of partyers banded, disbanded, then banded again, after fleeing rubber bullets and the advancing lines of officers.

On Occidental Avenue just off Yesler, a raucous crowd surrounded a small red car about 1:25 a.m., pushing it away from the curb. Then, they battered, kicked and jumped on it before a group of officers used pepper spray to disperse them.

About 2 a.m., a group of young men brutally kicked and beat a young man in the doorway of a teriyaki restaurant on Second Avenue, eventually chasing him down a side street before delivering a flurry of final blows that left him lying senseless.

"This whole thing's the police's fault," said Aaron Dooly, 18, of Renton, who watched a group of young men shatter windows on Second Avenue. "If they wouldn't have interfered, everyone would've been happy."

But John Cole, 31, a bar security guard at the J&M Cafe, said, "I think the cops are doing what they're supposed to do." Cole, who earlier in the night futilely tried to douse a dumpster fire ignited by vandals, added, "There's just a bunch of kids out here looking for trouble."

"Some of these people are just looking for confrontation," Kerlikowske said.

Given the legacy of the World Trade Organization riots, Seattle police continue to hear criticism that they provoke such behavior by acting too aggressively. But police Sgt. Mike Brady flatly rejected this notion.

"I'm not just going to stand there and let people throw things at me or let my fellow officers get hurt," he said.

Once the situation deteriorates, Brady said, the police have to take swift and aggressive action.

Still, some criticized police for an approach they say isn't warranted, and often only exacerbates troubles.

"How come you don't see this happen at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans?" asked Zac Dean, 17, of Renton, as he watched vandals shatter glass storefronts early yesterday while riot officers pushed toward them. "Why is it that they only shoot tear gas and rubber bullets in Seattle? The whole atmosphere with police here is wrong."

A New Orleans Police Department spokesman said yesterday that despite the large annual carnival crowds in that city, the situation rarely deteriorates into confrontations of violence.

"We don't have that problem here," said Lt. Marlon Defillo.

While there's plenty of drunkenness, nudity, lewd and loud behavior, Defillo said, police seldom have to deal with vandalism or attacks against officers.

"We never dress in riot gear or helmets," he said. "We train our officers to have a high tolerance for misbehavior, so long as it's safe. We can't enforce every law, and we don't try to. We let people have a good time."

Schell and Kerlikowske said this is no different from the approach in Seattle.

They were at a loss to explain why the city has such problems during its tiny Mardi Gras celebration as compared to the largely non-violent 2 million revelers in New Orleans.

"I don't know, but I do know it's mostly just a small group of kids who can't hold their liquor," Schell said. "I also think it's partly a result of the media blaming the police when these things happen. We're encouraging these kids to show disrespect.

"We should be blaming the people who are engaged in the sophomoric behavior," the mayor added. "I mean, what are they protesting? What's the point of smashing these store windows?"

P-I reporter Sam Skolnik contributed updated material to this report.

P-I reporter Lewis Kamb can be reached at 425-497-1128 or lewiskamb@seattle-pi.com