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A Seattle police officer has been caught on tape talking about "making up" evidence while two wrongly arrested men sit in jail. It's the latest shocker uncovered by a KOMO 4 Problem Solver investigation into the Seattle Police Department's vanishing dashcam videos. Josh Lawson and Christopher Franklin filed a claim against the city Monday for excessive force and wrongful arrest. The two were arrested at gunpoint on November 16, 2010 and said the incident changed their lives forever. "I thought I was gonna die," Lawson said about that night. Franklin said it was "the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced."...

Babylonia Aivaz prepares to wed a crumbling Capitol Hill warehouse that is slated for demolition. SEATTLE - A beaming bride, a crumbling warehouse – Babylonia Aivaz said it’s a love that will never die, as she exchanged wedding vows with the Seattle building on Sunday. Aivaz and the 10th and Union warehouse entered into a self-described “gay marriage,” surrounded by friends singing of love and united against displacement in their neighborhood by means of new development. Aivaz told the crowd of approximately 50 people about her relationship with the building, which is slated to be demolished in a week to...

SEATTLE - A very unique wedding in Seattle on Sunday afternoon as people came to witness the union of a woman - and a building. In order to save a building from demolition, a Babylonia Aivaz “married” it. Aivaz said "I do" to the warehouse on 10th and Union on Capitol Hill. She said she fell in love with the 107-year-old building during an Occupy Seattle protest and doesn't want to see it torn down to make room for a brand-new apartment building. "I hope that America wakes up and realizes that gentrification is a serous issue that affects poor...

At the Modern Language Association (MLA) annual meeting in Seattle last week, English professor Joseph Ramsey pretty much said at a panel that when college activists in the faculty and the student body are finished hibernating, they will go back to doing the one thing that we know collegiates for decades have been trained to do—protest. In 2011, the world turned “from the Arab Spring to the American autumn,” Ramsey said at an MLA panel on “Class in the Classroom.” The Class they were talking about was not a course. “The Arab Spring put the stake in the blood-stained, hegemonic...

SPD releases surveillance images of firebomb suspectPosted: 1:42 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012 **SNIP** The face of the suspect cannot be seen but police are hoping someone will recognize the suspect from what the person is wearing. Police described the suspect wearing a blue-hooded jacket with a grey-hooded sweatshirt, a baseball cap, a black mask covering the face below the eyes, blue jeans, dark shoes and black gloves. A white logo was on the black bag the suspect was carrying.

SEATTLE – A Seattle police officer who was arrested for possession of cocaine Thursday morning committed suicide after he was released from jail. The body of Officer Richard F. Nelson, 50, was found on the John Wayne Trail near Rattlesnake Lake with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Seattle Police said. Just hours earlier, Nelson was arrested and booked into the King County Jail after police officers in the Rainier Valley area provided him with an unknown amount of cocaine. Nelson was pulled over in his personal vehicle and arrested following the end of his shift. Nelson was the subject of an...

With the Seattle City Council expected to vote on a plastic bag ban Monday, is it time to bid farewell to something Seattleites use 292 million of a year? The bill would banish single-use, carryout bags in not just grocery stores, but department stores, clothing stores, liquor stores, drug stores and home improvement stores. Customers would be able to buy paper bags from retailers for 5 cents each. Customers on food assistance would be exempted from that charge. With seven of nine council members sponsoring the bill – and support from environmental and grocery-store groups – the future doesn’t look...

Police said during a news conference that the situation was “scary” for officers and that protesters were throwing bricks, flares and bags of paint. (Sharpened Rebar Spears left out of written story)

A Seattle woman who is receiving welfare assistance from Washington state also happens to live in a waterfront house on Lake Washington worth more than a million dollars. Federal agents raided the home this weekend but have not released the woman or her husband's name because they have not officially been charged with a crime. However, federal documents obtained by KING 5 News show the couple currently receives more than $1,200 a month in public housing vouchers, plus state and government disability checks and food stamps. They have been receiving the benefits since 2003. A federal official told KING 5...

Residents of a wealthy lakefront community near Seattle are surprised to learn that one of their neighbors, who has lived in a $1.2 million home for the last 8 years, is the recipient of more that $1,200 a month in public housing vouchers, federal and state disability, and food stamps. Video at link

SEATTLE -- She lives in a beautiful waterfront home on Seattle’s Lake Washington. Yet, she's on welfare assistance.   This week federal agents moved in to put a stop to it. They raided her south Lake Washington home armed with a search warrant.   KING 5 News is not naming the woman or her husband because they have not been criminally charged.   Search warrant documents unsealed Friday in federal court reveal that she received more than $1,200 a month in public housing vouchers, plus monthly cash from the federal and state government for a disability, as well as food stamps.  ...

Seattle Police are investigating an armed robbery on Broadway Ave early this morning. Police say around 4:20 a.m. one of their officers was flagged down by a man near 1700 Broadway who said he’d been robbed of his iPhone at knifepoint. The man reportedly told police he knew the other man with the knife and after robbing him that man fled into the Occupy Seattle camp at Seattle Central Community College... Some parents who's children attend a daycare at SCCC have raised concerns about reported drug use and criminal activity at the camp.

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands - Seattle Mariners outfielder Greg Halman has been stabbed to death and his brother has been arrested as a suspect, according to Dutch police. Rotterdam Police spokeswoman Patricia Wessels says police were called to a home in the Dutch port city early Monday morning and found Halman bleeding from a stab wound. The officers attempted unsuccessfully to resuscitate the 24-year-old major league baseball player. Wessels says the officers arrested Halman's 22-year-old brother. She declined to give his name, in line with Dutch privacy rules. Fox News reports that the brother's name is Jason. Wessels said the brother was...

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has issued an apology to people who were pepper sprayed at an Occupy Seattle demonstration on Tuesday evening. McGinn personally apologized to an 84-year-old woman who was sprayed in the face. He called Dorli Rainey afer images of her being sprayed went viral. "I feel terrible,” said McGinn. "I did apologize to Dorli because nobody likes to see this happen to someone who speaks for the protest line." Pictures of Seattle's pepper spraying police - and Rainey - hit YouTube. The mayor demands a complete review of police actions. "We've asked police to review it, take...

SEATTLE (AP) — A downtown march and rally in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement turned briefly chaotic as police scattered a crowd of rowdy protesters — including a pregnant 19-year-old and an 84-year-old activist — with blasts of pepper spray. Protest organizers denounced the use of force, saying that police indiscriminately sprayed the chemical irritant at peaceful protesters. The Occupy Seattle movement released a written statement late Tuesday expressing support for "a 4-foot 10-inch, 84-year-old woman, a priest and a pregnant woman who as of this writing is still in the hospital." Dorli Rainey is an activist who...

Unsurprisingly, those that claim to be "oppressed" at Occupy Seattle have laptops, iPhones, internet access, and movie projectors. They also have a website on which they have published a schedule of upcoming events. This coming Monday, November 7, Occupy Seattle will be having an Anarchist Multimedia Extravaganza. Here is the description that they have posted to their site: ... Here are other scheduled events (all visible on their website). A discussion on Socialist Feminism and Anarchism, which asks, "How can capitalism and the state be abolished?"

With violence breaking out among members of Occupy Oakland and Denver, there is a growing concern that the movement may break out into mob storms. With the protesters losing members and even positive press coverage, there is a further concern of outright attacks beginning. This brings us to Seattle, where these is a very real atmosphere of tensions building in the city. In 1999 the city, known for its hippy and hipster populations, saw violent protests against the World Trade Organization. Now, it has gotten so tense that parents are even cordoning the Occupy protesters from their children. The occupiers...

Leave it to the Left Coast to hold something like this. With the national Occupy protests waning in numbers and even receiving some critical attention from the media, it appears that their influence is declining. Even worse, the violence that has shaken Oakland and Denver has even gained the attention of some in the press. For Occupy, times are not as fat as a month ago. Cold temperatures are draining 20ish hipsters from New York city and threatening every northern protest. As the winter months move on, this will likely thin the crowd out even further. So, without a natural...

A Washington appeals court on Monday upheld a King County superior judge's ruling that voided Seattle's ban on carrying guns in city parks. In a unanimous ruling, three judges of the Washington State Court of Appeals for Division 1 ruled that Judge Catherine Shaffer was correct in her Feb. 2010 decision that the city exceeded its authority in banning firearms from parks. Only the legislature, not the city, has authority to enact such a restriction, the judges concluded. The Second Amendment Foundation, the National Rifle Association, and several individuals, including a gay rights activist and a Department of Corrections worker,...

Beginning Sunday evening,instructors at Seattle Community College campuses are teaching classes in support of Occupy Seattle.SEATTLE — Beginning Sunday evening, instructors at Seattle Community College campuses are teaching classes in support of Occupy Seattle.The classes are scheduled to be held in the plaza of Seattle Central Community College. They will focus on subjects such as legislative lobbying, the art of the protest sign and filming to document human rights violations.According to Occupy Seattle and the Washington branch of the American Federation of Teachers, classes were scheduled throughout the night.

SEATTLE -- A new bicycle making the rounds on Seattle's streets is triggering smiles, snickers and even a few blushes. The two-wheeler is specifically designed to transport sperm samples, and it looks the part. "I wasn't sure what it was when I first saw it, and then I noticed what it was -- and I laughed," said Kim Garvelle. Custom-made and nearly 10 feet long, the design of the sperm bike resembles an oversized sperm. A hefty 120 pounds when fully-loaded, the bike is big enough to have people running to get out of the way..

Washington state Sen. Scott White, a transit advocate who rose to majority whip, was found dead Friday at a resort hotel. He was 41. Kittitas County Sheriff Gene Dana said there was no sign of foul play in the death. Authorities are investigating because it remains unexplained. Housekeeping staff at the Suncadia Resort found White after he failed to check out of his room. An autopsy is planned. The Democrat represented the state's 46th District, covering northern Seattle. White joined the Senate last year and rose to serve as the Senate's majority whip, advocating for transit issues as a caucus...

SEATTLE -- A man accused of exposing himself to children at least five times across Seattle was arrested early Tuesday morning. Seattle police say he was taken into custody at his Kenmore residence around 1 a.m. Officers had been given a composite sketch of the suspect and detectives learned he had been at Westlake Park taking part in the Occupy Seattle protests. The man is accused of exposing himself three times on Sept. 29 -- once in Crown Hill, once near Alki Beach, and a third time on Capitol Hill. Three days later, he was spotted at Pinehurst Playfield near...

Seattle police say officers have arrested a convicted felon who was carrying an unloaded rifle at Westlake Park, scene of the continuing Occupy Seattle protests. Bicycle officers talked to the man just after 6 p.m. Monday and that he was taking part in the protests. The 40-year-old man was carrying a rifle case over his shoulder. And police say officers heard him mention that he was carrying a "Ruger." Ruger is a gun maker. Officers found an unloaded short-barreled rifle with a pistol grip in the case. The man also showed police an ammunition box with 16 rounds in it....

Occupy Seattle leaves behind big mess for Seattle parks workersChris Egert KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Updated: 12:35 pm PDT October 11, 2011 SEATTLE -- Should Occupy Seattle protesters have to clean up after themselves? A KIRO 7 overnight news crew shot video of some of the mess left behind in Westlake Park. City Parks and Recreation crews have spent mornings cleaning up from 11 days of Occupy Seattle demonstrations. Along with rain-soaked signs, KIRO 7 crews counted at least four parks workers taking every sign and piece of tape off the columns at Westlake Park. The garbage has filled about...

SEATTLE -- Protesters with Occupy Seattle aren't leaving downtown's Westlake Park until their list of demands are met by the Mayor's Office. Occupy Seattle organizer Mark Canfield told KING 5 News Tuesday the group was told they must either move their demonstration, which has been at Westlake for more than a week, or police would move them out Wednesday morning. Canfield said they submitted the demands to Mayor Mike McGinn's office. McGinn has said he supports the Occupy Seattle protesters and offered them space at City Hall Plaza. Their demands are: •A meeting with McGinn and Occupy Seattle representatives to...

Protesters or homeless or both? What's happening to the Occupy Seattle gathering at Seattle's Westlake Park has some wondering, but those you ask have an answer to why they are there. More and more homeless people are joining protesters occupying Seattle’s Westlake Park. The Occupy Wall Street movement has a special attraction for people who sleep on the streets. When you walk through Westlake Park, in the heart of downtown Seattle’s shopping district, you notice the donated tarps and sleeping bags on hand to keep people warm. And there's a big tent where you can get a cheese sandwich or...

SEATAC, Wash. -- Rental car company Hertz indefinitely suspended 34 Somali Muslim shuttle drivers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for praying on company time, and the workers' union is trying to put them back in the driver's seat after what it calls a sudden policy change.

50 criminals in Belltown arrested over 2,700 times By Bob Larson 97.3 KIRO FM Editor The Belltown neighborhood has a recurring problem. The same group of criminals keeps causing trouble. (97.3 KIRO FM/file) zoom The Belltown neighborhood has a recurring problem. The same group of criminals keep causing trouble.The same group of about 50 people have been arrested over 2,700 times."We have a pair of beat officers down there in Belltown and Third Ave., that area, we asked them to identify the 50 most problematic individuals they deal with, and then we ran the analysis on them," says Seattle Mayor...

In what may be a new development in a June South Seattle terror plot, state prosecutors filed charges Tuesday against a longtime criminal in Washington state who attempted to run two Marines off the road, and who allegedly had contact with one of the terrorism suspects.

SNIPPET: "Michael Dale McCright is accused of trying to hit a vehicle with his car in North Seattle after he noticed the driver, a Marine, was wearing a military uniform." SNIPPET: "Document said that before the incident occurred, the Marines had just left a military facility on East Marginal Way in South Seattle where new recruits are processed. The building was the target of a thwarted terrorism plot earlier this summer. Court documents reveal a possible connection."

FBI agents participating in an outreach workshop Saturday hoped to improve their relationship with Seattle's Muslim, Arab, East African and Sikh communities, but ended up offending some participants. ~snip~ About 20 community leaders attended the workshop at North Seattle Community College, which featured presentations by the FBI, Seattle police and the U.S. Attorney's Office. The event was aimed at improving communication and building trust between law enforcement and communities that feel targeted and profiled by authorities.

Seattle’s ‘green jobs’ program a bust Seattle PI Last year, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn announced the city had won a coveted $20 million federal grant to invest in weatherization. The unglamorous work of insulating crawl spaces and attics had emerged as a silver bullet in a bleak economy - able to create jobs and shrink carbon footprint - and the announcement came with great fanfare. McGinn had joined Vice President Joe Biden in the White House to make it. It came on the eve of Earth Day. It had heady goals: creating 2,000 living-wage jobs in Seattle and retrofitting 2,000...

Mystery of DB Cooper air stewardess who was sent to a Nunnery... but was it part of a witness protection programme? It is America's most notorious unsolved criminal case which, over the past four decades, has had enough twists and turns to match any film script. So it is not entirely surprising that the latest revelation is one straight out of Hollywood. The stewardess who famously dealt with the elusive DB Cooper during the Northwest Airlines hijacking and robbery of 1971 spent more than a decade in a Nunnery, in what experts believe was part of a witness protection programme....

A green jobs program in one of America's greenest cities is being called a bust 16 months after a $20 million federal grant to weatherize homes in Seattle ended up putting just 14 people to work in mostly administrative jobs and upgrading only three homes in the area. "The jobs are not there," Todd Myers, who wrote the book "Eco Fads," told Fox News. "So we're training people for jobs that don't exist." Seattle is not alone. The Department of Energy has allocated $508 million to 41 states for its Better Buildings Neighborhood Program and 600 jobs have been created...

Seattle Green Jobs Program Gets $20M, Creates 14 Posts By Dan Springer Published August 29, 2011 | FoxNews.com A green jobs program in one of America's greenest cities is being called a bust 16 months after a $20 million federal grant to weatherize homes in Seattle ended up putting just 14 people to work in mostly administrative jobs and upgrading only three homes in the area. "The jobs are not there," Todd Myers, who wrote the book "Eco Fads," told Fox News. "So we're training people for jobs that don't exist." Seattle is not alone. The Department of Energy has...

SEATTLE - He ruled Russia almost a century ago, and yet, somehow, a statue of communist leader Vladimir Lenin found its way to Seattle. It's not one of the city's more famous landmarks - like the Space Needle or Pike Place Market. Instead, the 16-foot-tall statue of the divisive dictator is tucked away in a more residential spot in Seattle's Fremont district. He is as controversial today as he was decades ago. "Why do we have a statue of him?" asked Erin Derring, as she walked by. "We couldn't imagine such a statue in America - you understand why," added...

Last year, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn announced the city had won a coveted $20 million federal grant to invest in weatherization. McGinn had joined Vice President Joe Biden in the White House to make it. It came on the eve of Earth Day. It had heady goals: creating 2,000 living-wage jobs in Seattle and retrofitting 2,000 homes in poorer neighborhoods. But more than a year later, Seattle's numbers are lackluster. As of last week, only three homes had been retrofitted and just 14 new jobs have emerged from the program. Many of the jobs are administrative, and not the entry-level...

Nan Brasmer says she won't buy anything from Amazon anymore. The 72-year-old president of the 950,000-member California Alliance for Retired Americans is among dozens of community leaders planning to gather in Sacramento Monday morning to launch a consumer boycott of the Seattle-based retailer. The boycott -- and an online petition at ThinkBeforeYouClickCA.org -- targets Amazon for its efforts to overturn a new California law that requires internet retailers to collect sales tax from their customers. The boycott is backed by many Demoratic members of the state Legislature, including East Bay Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner and State Senator Loni Hancock, both of...

KENT -- At least 11 people were injured in a mass shooting Saturday afternoon that may have started with an argument over a paint job at a low-rider car show off Pacific Highway.

A fight at a crowded Kent car show escalated Saturday afternoon, leaving 10 people shot as cars sped away from the scene and frightened spectators ducked into the safety of nearby businesses. Hundreds of people packed the La Plaza parking lot all day before the shooting. At least one shooter fired from the front of the shopping center into the crowd.

As many as eight people were wounded in a shooting at a car show in Kent, Washington, late Saturday afternoon, according to a King County fire and rescue dispatcher. "We have a ton of medical staff on the scene and are transporting people to local hospitals," the dispatcher said. A witness who works at a business near the shooting site told CNN affiliate KOMO that she heard about 10 shots.

A Seattle police officer has been charged with fourth-degree assault in connection with a December 2010 fight outside a bar. But the police union president said not only was the officer a victim of a brutal attack, but the victim of a hate crime.(edit)"The Seattle Police Officers Guild is outraged by the decision of the city Attorney Peter Holmes to charge Seattle Police Officer Garth Haynes with assault. The whole story has yet to be told regarding this incident," said police guild president Rich O'Neill.(edit)Haynes faces a maximum of one year in jail and a $5,000 fine if convicted of...

Seattle police concede it's "very embarrassing" that a semi-automatic rifle was left on the back of a patrol car. The AR-15 was left on the trunk lid of the patrol car that was parked outside of the Roosevelt Hotel on Pine Street around 9 p.m. Monday. A man snapped a photo of the rifle and flagged down bicycle patrol officers, Seattle Police Department spokesman Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said. The same man also notified The Stranger and sent the alternative weekly the photo, police said. According to The Stranger, the car was unattended when the photo was snapped. Another witnesses reportedly...

Earlier this year, a four-page document with a bland title, "Stipulation for Dismissal with Prejudice," was filed in a civil matter percolating on the King County Courthouse's ninth floor. Hardly anyone took notice. Most everyone had moved on. But that document — filed by lawyers tangled up in the estate of Stuart Greenberg, a nationally renowned psychologist whose life ended in scandal — signaled the end of a tortuous undertaking. Greenberg had proved such a toxic force — a poison coursing through the state's court system — that it took more than three years for lawyers and judges to sift...

SEATTLE -- Men from Washington and California have been arrested in plot to attack a Seattle military recruiting station, the Department of Justice says. Justice Department officials said the two men, who were arrested late Wednesday night, took possession of machine guns that they purchased and planned to use in an attack on the Military Entrance Processing Station on East Marginal Way and that the two also planned to use grenades in the attack. Here's the complete news release from the Department of Justice: Two men were arrested late last night and are charged by criminal complaint with terrorism and...

Media blackout: CIA director accused of links to Communist spy contact -- scandal ignored Wes Vernon June 13, 2011 If you have been depending on the mainstream media for your news the past few days, you are probably learning here for the first time that CIA Director Leon Panetta has been called out for his links to an important open member of the Communist Party. Some background When this writer first arrived in Washington, D.C., as a reporter in 1968, one of my assignments was to cover the congressional delegation from Washington State. Occasionally, both Democrat and Republican members of...

The state Supreme Court has thrown out a man's murder conviction in a 2006 gang-related shooting in Pioneer Square, ruling that the prosecutor who tried the case resorted to "racist arguments" to attack defense witnesses. The court, in an 8-1 ruling, found that James Konat, a veteran King County deputy prosecutor now trying a high-profile murder case, engaged in "prosecutorial misconduct" in questioning witnesses during the trial of Kevin L. Monday Jr., who was convicted in 2007 of first-degree murder and first-degree assault, and sentenced to 64 years in prison. During the trial, Konat questioned witnesses, many of them black,...

Less than two hours after picking out a man in a police lineup who held up his drugstore, pharmacist Mike Donohue was getting robbed — again. This robber's face was hidden under the hood of a bulky black sweatshirt. He rocked back and forth anxiously, with his right hand planted in his pocket. Like the other five robbers who had previously held up Donohue's store, the man demanded OxyContin, a popular painkiller known for its high-abuse potential. "My technician came back and showed me the note that said, 'Give me your OxyContin. I have a gun'," Donohue said. Instead of...

Officer Ian Birk shot John T. Williams last August after the Native American woodcarver crossed the street in front of Birk's patrol car while holding a piece of wood and a small knife. Birk later maintained Williams had threatened him… (MadHatters described the event: Williams, crossed an intersection where Officer Birk sat in his car. Birk saw Williams was carrying a lump of wood and a knife, got out of his car and called on Williams to drop the knife. When Williams didn’t comply Birk fired 5 rapid shots striking Williams in the side and back, killing him. http://madhatters.me.uk/2011/05/30/john-t-williams-family-offered-1-5-million/) The...