Seattle to Pay Millions to Settle Lawsuit Over “CHAZ/CHOP Autonomous Region” Insanity

The City of Seattle A settlement was reached with residents and business owners regarding the 2020 handling of protests in the so-called autonomous zones, originally known as the Capitol Hill Occupied PROtest (CHOP). 

Seattle’s Capitol Hill is home to both residents and businesses. “will now be compensated for the City’s mishandling of CHOP that resulted in a significant increase in crime and even loss of life,” According to The Seattle Times, attorney Angelo Calfo made a statement. 

More than a dozen residents and business owners reside in Capitol Hill. Filled a lawsuit Protest against the city regarding the city’s policies “effectively authorized the actions of the CHOP participants,” According to the suit. 

According to The Seattle Times, the settlement is $3.65million. It includes $600,000. in penalties for the deletions of thousands of text messages by city leaders including Jenny Durkan (ex-Mayor). 

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Within what has been called the Capitol Hill Occupied Occupied Zone in Seattle, cement and wood barricades bear CHOP the name June 16, 2020  (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren / AP Newsroom)

Protesters invaded the area in June 2020 and overtook the east precinct at the police department. This prevented officers from entering. After the death of George Floyd, Minneapolis, protests and riots broke out across the country. This led to renewed calls for defunding police departments. 

Known as CHOP or CHAZ — Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone — the protest camp became a national focal point of that summer as fatal shootings unfolded, including the killing of a 16-year-old boy. Rioters from the zone made a list of demands to the city that included reducing the police budget by half in 2020 and abolishing imprisonment. They also demanded the release of inmates who were being held for marijuana-related offenses. 

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Police evacuated the area after the protest zone was closed on July 1, 2020. 

Protester stands at a barricade, his fist raised at the CHOP Zone in Seattle on June 26, 2020. Trucks from the Seattle Department of Transportation are behind him.  (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren / AP Newsroom)

Durkan famously declared that Seattle was experiencing riots amid the chaos in the city. “summer of love,” Before responding to the comments. Seattle data revealed that 2020 was over. An alarming rise in homicides.

In 2019, there were 31 homicides in Seattle. This number soared by 61% to 50 homicides in 2019, the highest recorded number in 26 years. 

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People gather at a temporary memorial to the victim of a shooting in Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (or CHAZ), where protesters took control after the June 2020 withdrawal of police. (Toby Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images/Getty Images

The suit was joined by businesses, who claimed they wanted to hold the city responsible in the aftermath of the violence and destruction caused by the CHOP zone. KING 5 reported. 

Former Mayor Durkan and former Mayor Durkan are among the highest-ranking officials of the city. Carmen Best, Chief of PoliceThe city was fined for deleting thousands of text messages which were likely to have been related to the area. The city was recently sanctioned by a judge for the deleted text messages. Best alone had deleted more than 27,000 text messages manually. 

“As the federal court judge found, our clients’ lawsuit exposed the cover-up of its highest-ranking officials who destroyed their text communications with each other,” Calfo stated.

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Anne Davison, City Attorney, stated in a statement that she was “pleased that we were able to resolve this matter and turn a page from a difficult period in the city’s history.”