Story at a glance
- “I’m leaving. You guys won,” the officer tells the protester behind the camera.
- The protester asks if it’s because of police brutality, to which the officer indicates it’s because of the ongoing demonstrations.
- It isn’t exactly clear when or where the video was filmed, but it was posted days after Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best announced she was stepping down after the city council approved cuts to the department’s budget.
A Seattle police officer told a protester in a now-viral video that he is resigning from the police department and suggested it’s because of the ongoing anti-police demonstrations taking place in the city.
In the video that was posted to Twitter Saturday, the officer, who is not named in the clip, is seen pulling up in a patrol car next to the protester who is filming the video and asks him if he is having a good day.
Police officer said screw this, I’m done, congratulations to BLM I’m resigning, caught on camera pic.twitter.com/C2ELs75cEO
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“Not really, you’re around,” the man, whose face is out of the frame throughout the video, replies.
“Oh, well I’m sorry for that,” the officer says. “But don’t worry, man, because guess what? I’m leaving. You guys won. F—ing two months, baby. I’m out.”
The protester then asks if the officer is going to resign and how he feels about it.
“I’m f—ing feeling great. Yeah, I am leaving this department. You guys won,” the officer responds.
The man behind the camera then asks the officer if he’s resigning because of police brutality, to which the officer indicates he’s actually quitting because he’s tired of dealing with the protests.
The officer then gets out of his car to deal with a disturbance while the protester yells out to other demonstrators: “he said he’s tired of us and he’s going to resign because of Black Lives Matter, not because he’s tired of the police!”
When the officer gets back in his vehicle the protester begins to berate him.
“Hey, you triggered, boy? You triggered?” the protester says. “Oink oink. Oink oink. Yeah, f— you and your blue lives, boy. F— you and your blue lives.”
“Why can’t we be friends?” the officer asks.
“No, we ain’t ever going to be friends,” the protester responds. “We’ll never see eye to eye. We’ll never see eye to eye. I don’t give a f— if you’re taking that badge off. You’ll never be my people. You’ll never be my friend.”
It isn’t exactly clear when or where the video was filmed, but it was posted days after Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best announced she was stepping down after the city council approved cuts to her department’s budget. She cited a “lack of respect” for her officers rather than the cuts to the budget as the reason for her resignation.
Seattle, like many cities, has experienced large protests against racial injustice and police brutality after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in May.
At least 18 people were arrested in Seattle Sunday when a riot was declared during an anti-police demonstration just south of downtown.
Authorities said about 100 protesters marched toward Seattle’s police officer union building Sunday night. Shortly after 10 p.m., someone set off a large explosive and attempted to break out a police vehicle window.
Protesters then began throwing rocks, bottles and explosives at police, and at least three officers were injured, according to police.
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