Seattle Interim Police Chief Issues Written Reprimand to Lieutenant Over Language Used During 2025 Cal Anderson Park Rally
Seattle is a city in King County, Washington. Seattle Police Department (SPD) Interim Chief Andre Sayles said in a statement on the evening of October 16 that, following a completed investigation by the Office of Police Accountability (OPA), he has issued a written reprimand to a lieutenant for his conduct during the May 24, 2025, Mayday USA rally and counterdemonstration at Cal Anderson Park.
Sayles said the language the lieutenant used, captured on body-worn video as his team prepared to make arrests, did not reflect the standards he expects of any Seattle police officer, and certainly not of a supervisor. "Leaders set the tone for those they lead. Words spoken before officers enter a crowd shape how that crowd is policed," he said.
In determining discipline, Sayles said he followed the principles of progressive discipline that guide the department and are required for fairness and consistency. The lieutenant had a minor prior disciplinary history, OPA recommended a range of disciplines for the sustained finding, and his decision falls within that range. Progressive discipline, he said, is meant to correct conduct, hold employees accountable, and make clear that repeated misconduct will bring more serious consequences.
Sayles added that discipline for one individual does not resolve the larger concerns raised by the Office of Inspector General's (OIG) Sentinel Event Review. That review found that the department did not understand the depth of concern within the LGBTQ+ community before the event, and that its actions that day damaged trust — a finding Sayles said he accepts.
He said the department has begun acting on the OIG's recommendations, strengthening its crowd management practices, expanding the work of its LGBTQ+ liaison and advisory council, and engaging directly with community organizations before — not after — events that affect them. Cal Anderson Park sits in the historic heart of Seattle's LGBTQ+ community, and Sayles said every person in the city, whatever their identity or beliefs, deserves a police department that protects their rights fairly and treats them with dignity.
Source: Statement by the interim chief published by the Seattle Police Department via SPD Blotter on October 16, 2026.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Seattle 的 Cal Anderson Park，2025年5月24日的集会与反示威在此举行。Douglas J. McLaughlin 等摄，CC BY 2.5，经维基共享资源。Image: Cal Anderson Park in Seattle, where the May 24, 2025 rally and counterdemonstration took place. Photo by Douglas J. McLaughlin et al., CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.
