Associated Press
SEATTLE — Two Seattle police officers who were cleared of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a man last year have sued City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant, saying she defamed them when she called the killing a “brutal murder.”
The Seattle Times reports that officers Scott Miller and Michael Spaulding filed the lawsuit last week in King County Superior Court. They sued her in her individual capacity, without naming the city as a defendant, saying they “do not want one red cent of public money.”
The lawsuit cites comments Sawant made after the officers, who are white, shot a 46-year-old black man named Che Taylor, next to an open car door in February 2016.
Taylor was a felon previously convicted of rape and robbery. The officers said he appeared to be drawing a gun when they fired, and a gun was discovered under the seat of the car. An inquest jury cleared them of wrongdoing.
Sawant did not immediately return a request for comment.
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