The incident that took place Friday night in the heart of town is disturbing on many levels. But what’s particularly troubling is the disparity between what the King County Sheriff’s Office said happened and what three eyewitnesses said they saw unfold.
All of the accounts, even that of the sheriff’s department, carried a similar story line. Friday night, when two Vashon women saw two deputies emerge from the Sportsmen’s Inn escorting an intoxicated African-American man out the door in handcuffs, they decided to intervene.
According to one eyewitness, the woman who was ultimately at the center of this horrific incident — Jessica DeWire — was far from threatening as she called out to the deputies that she wanted to know what was going on. Another witness suggested she was being a bit more hostile but still not threatening. The third witness said her voice and manner were provocative.
But all three agree on one critical point: She did not reach out and grab the deputy — as the sheriff’s office alleges in a press release issued to news organizations throughout the region. According to the three eyewitnesses, Deputy Mark Silverstein turned on DeWire when she was about five feet away (all three agree on that very specific distance), grabbed her and threw her to the ground; that’s when she began fiercely fighting back.
The Beachcomber found a fourth eyewitness Tuesday morning who offered a different account: As he was driving by, he said he saw a woman strike the officer before the officer turned on her.
This issue — did she start the physical altercation or did he — is central to the incident. If she started it, the deputy’s response is extreme but arguably within the realm of an appropriate police response in a tense, uncertain situation. If instead he initiated physical contact, his response was over the top and out of line — a case, very possibly, of an officer using excessive force.
Consider the headlines that emerged as a result of the sheriff’s department news release: “Woman claws deputy on Vashon Island during bar dispute”; “Deputies attacked during arrest, police say”: “Police: Deputy attacked by Vashon women in drunken mob.”
The news release and stories that ensued had a salacious quality. Indeed, the Seattle P-I’s account, based entirely on the sheriff’s department’s news release, was briefly the top story on Yahoo’s national news list Monday. All of the news organizations — save for KIRO, which sent a reporter to the Island — based their stories solely on the sheriff’s department’s news release.
The Beachcomber, rightly, worked hard to find eyewitnesses who offered up a fuller account of what happened. Our reporting paints a troubling picture: It seems likely an officer acted inappropriately.
At the same time, we don’t know for sure and we’re not rushing to judgment. We urge Islanders to take a similarly tempered and thoughtful stance on an incident that may have repercussions for our community.
More importantly, though, is how the sheriff’s department responds. We urge the agency to consider that one of its own may have acted inappropriately. A full and impartial investigation is in order.
