SEATTLE— King County prosecutors filed felony charges against five men Monday in connection with last week’s May Day “anti-capitalism” demonstration that turned violent, with protesters pelting Seattle police with bottles, rocks, flares and other projectiles.
Three of the five remain in custody in the King County Jail. Two others were released last week on personal recognizance and were ordered to appear for arraignment in King County Superior Court on May 20.
A sixth man, a 19-year-old unemployed machinist from Lynnwood who was accused of throwing objects at officers, was unconditionally released Monday after prosecutors declined to charge him with a crime, though he could still be charged in the future.
Marcel Davis, an unemployed 21-year-old with a lengthy juvenile criminal history in Spokane County, was charged Monday with second-degree assault. He is accused of passing out large rocks to other demonstrators and hurling rocks at police, one of which struck an officer in the left leg, cracking her kneecap, according to charging papers.
Davis, who has been booked into the King County Jail five times since October, remains in custody in lieu of $60,000 bail. He is also being held on $5,000 bail for failing to appear in court on an unrelated fourth-degree assault charge in Snohomish County, jail records show.
Joshua Irwin-Patterson, 18, of Olympia, who remains in the King County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail, was charged Monday with third-degree assault.
As a large, hostile crowd moved from Fourth Avenue and Pine Street to Olive Way, an officer saw “a large baseball-size rock” hit the ground 10 feet away from him, charging papers say. That officer and another then saw a man – later identified as Irwin-Patterson – dressed all in black advance from the crowd, pick up the same rock and cock his arm back, ready to throw it, the papers say.
The officers yelled warnings to each other and Irwin-Patterson put the rock in his pocket and tried to blend back into the crowd, but officers grabbed him and arrested him, the papers say.
Also charged with third-degree assault was Gerardo Hernandez, an 18-year-old Seattle line cook who remains in jail in lieu of $5,000 bail. Hernandez is accused of throwing a bottle that hit a bicycle officer in the leg during the melee in the 400 block of Olive Way, charging papers say.
According to charging documents, Raymond Miller struck a bicycle officer in the shoulder with his fist as a group of officers used their bikes to protect other officers, who were making an arrest. Released last week on personal recognizance, Miller, 28, of Shelton, Mason County, was charged Monday with third-degree assault.
Miller disputed the account in the charging documents.
Speaking outside the King County Jail courtroom, Miller said Monday he and his girlfriend were shopping in Seattle last week and weren’t part of the May Day demonstration. He said he didn’t recall shoving or hitting a cop.
But according to charging papers, a KIRO-TV camera crew recorded the incident, and the footage was later seen by a detective when it aired on television’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” according to charging papers.
Photographic evidence also exists in the case against Joshua Wollstein, a 28-year-old Tacoma man, according to charging documents. Wollstein, who is accused of fishing two beer bottles out of a trash can and hurling them at officers, was charged Monday with riot, a Class C felony.
Wearing what was described as “Blac Bloc” anarchist clothing — a ball cap, sunglasses, bandanna and dark clothing — Wollstein was seen throwing the bottles by two Seattle detectives at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Olive Way, though neither detective was “able to see if the bottles struck any officers,” the papers say.
When one detective moved in to arrest Wollstein, he tried to flee and, in the struggle, struck the detective in the shin, causing it to bleed, according to charging papers. A bike officer who came to the detective’s aid found a “lead loaded leather sap” in Wollstein’s back pocket, the charging papers say.
An FBI agent also photographed Wollstein throwing bottles at Seattle officers, according to the papers.
Outside of the courtroom, Wollstein said Monday he was an anarchist in his teens but now identifies as a libertarian influenced by Marxism.
“I was there primarily for the fact my family is struggling,” said Wollstein, who commended the professionalism of Seattle police during the May Day violence.
“I hurt no human being that I know of,” he said.
Wollstein declined to answer specific questions about the allegations against him because, he said, “I don’t want to incriminate myself.”
Last week, the Seattle City Attorney’s Office filed misdemeanor charges against six other people in connection with May Day violence. Those charges included obstruction of an officer, resisting arrest and failure to disperse.
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&Copy;2013 The Seattle Times
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