A Seattle Police officer with a history of preventable traffic collisions ran a stop sign with a flashing red light at the wide-open 8th and Bell intersection, striking a person wearing a bright red jacket riding in the dashed green bike lane in broad daylight August 24, 2024. The officer initially lied and said he came to a complete stop before admitting that he was looking at his in-car computer and did not stop, according to a troubling report (PDF) from the Office of Police Accountability (“OPA”) that was released to the public last Friday.
Rather than a suggested 1–2 day suspension, Seattle Police Department (“SPD”) Chief Shon Barnes gave the officer a written reprimand and some additional emergency vehicle operator training. The officer had been in ten collisions previously, of which eight had been deemed “preventable,” the report noted. This was the officer’s ninth documented preventable collision, and the second to occur since a previous round of additional driver training in 2022.
After the collision, the victim reportedly sustained some scrapes and significant damage to her bicycle. She “was confused about how [the officer] failed to notice her while she was able to see him,” according to the report. She was evaluated by medics and was in enough pain that they transported to the hospital. The report does not include a follow-up on her condition…