Dem cameraman is evicted from Dino Rossi event
Off-duty police officers last week violently sequestered a Democratic Party cameraman from a news meeting for consultation to what the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild was giving its endorsement to Republican Dino Rossi.
Guild members threatened the young man with arrest and made an emergency appointment to 911, bringing uniformed officers to the scene. Cameraman Kelly Akers was warned about trespassing.
“There’s no brilliant, no penalty, no request for charges,” said Seattle police Sgt. Sean Whitcomb.
Rossi is running for governor against Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. The incident Thursday was the roughest implementation even now of Rossi’s long-standing policy not to allow Democratic Party workers to witness his appearances.
“We don’t put up with them in to scrape together attack video,” Rossi spokeswoman Jill Strait declared.
Last week’s clash occurred at the police guild’s headquarters. A corporation worker asked Akers to leave, further he kept taping as Rossi accepted the endorsement.
Akers was confronted by three off-duty police officers, and he says single in kind or more grabbed him and pushed him out of the building. Once outside they continued to dispute as the officers held Akers in what he described as a “submission hold.”
Sgt. Ty Elster, vice president of the guild, said three members “escorted” Akers out the door. Elster was not at the issue but spoke to staff members who were there. He said he didn’t know the names of the off-duty officers involved.
“I’ve heard various sources describe it as being manhandled,” he said. “Our folks communicate to me it wasn’t anything of the sort. They merely placed a possession upon the body his arm and escorted him out the door. There was no force involved. There was no struggle.”
A Democratic spokesman says that’s not true. Kelly Steele, Akers’ supervisor, accused the guild members of “violence” and said Akers was “drug outside from behind.”
As Akers was evicted from the office, his camera recorded him saying, in an increasingly loud and alarmed voice, “Sir, could you please take your hands off me? Sir, could you gratify gripe your hands off of me?”
A guild member told him, “You were advised not to come into the building. This is private exclusive right. If you come back in the edifice you will be arrested for trespassing. Do you understand that? Do you understand?”
