Seattle city councilwoman Lisa Herbold, who was one of the lead politicians in Seattle pushing to defund the police and lessen the consequences of many “minor” crimes, ended up calling 9-1-1 on Friday, December 11 following an incident at her home.
An adult male who according to neighbors, “was a bad runner and unathletic,” threw a rock through Herbold’s window with such force that she thought it was a gunshot, and breaking her window and leaving her diving for cover. According to the police report, Herbold said “she was on the west side of the living room, closest to the kitchen when she heard a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot and dove into the kitchen for cover.” That’s when police say neighbors saw the adult male run off.
According to the New York Post, the neighbor could ID the suspect if the police needed, but refused an officer’s business card.
The Seattle City budget, which was passed on Monday, November 19, cut almost 20 percent from the Seattle Police Department budget for 2021 with Herbold being a key designer. “Through our efforts of our budget chair, and support for progressive revenue, we have I believe maybe not avoided but forestalled, the need to austerity budget like many cities are doing right now,” Herbold said last month after the city council voted to effectively defund the police starting in 2021. The city’s budget for 2021 effectively cuts $69 million from the Police’s budget.
The Budget was passed almost unanimously, 8 to 1. The budget’s passing comes at a time when Seattle has seen a dramatic increase in crime in 2020 following the summer protests and the development of the “autonomous zone,” known as “Chop,” where members attempted to challenge authority and create their own country.
Under Herbold’s budget, however, the suspect can possibly avoid charges. Herbold added an amendment that would allow a suspect to get off if they can prove that “the crime can be shown that it was related to mental illness or addiction, or if that the crime was needed to survive.”
The bill has supporters in King County’s Department of Public Defense. “In a situation where you took that sandwich because you were hungry, and you were trying to meet your basic need of hunger; we as the community will know that that we should not punish that. That conduct is excused,” Anita Khandelwal said. Khandelwal is the Director of King County’s Department of Public Defense.
Seattle’s crime has spiked 525 percent in 2020 following the summer of turmoil.
