A Seattle DV Detective Was Accused of Domestic Violence Shortly Before Retiring
A KCSO detective recommended felony charges against retired Det. Sean Hamlin for allegedly choking and suffocating his ex while he was still employed with SPD.
CONTENT NOTE: Detailed descriptions of domestic violence throughout.
When he retired in 2021, Seattle police detective Sean Hamlin was accused of the crime he had spent the preceding five years investigating as a member of SPD’s domestic violence unit.
In August of that year, Hamlin’s ex told a detective with the Sammamish police that he had physically assaulted her several times over their four-year relationship. She alleged that Hamlin pushed, choked, and suffocated her on various occasions while intoxicated.
Alleged Break-In
The woman first made these allegations after an incident in which Hamlin entered her home without permission. She and Hamlin had been living together in the house with his kids before the two split up, but Hamlin has his own condo in Bothell. A friend of Hamlin’s ex owns the house.
While she was away in Las Vegas, Hamlin had his 18-year-old daughter climb to the second-story window, remove a window AC unit, and crawl in. When the daughter opened the door to allow Hamlin in, it triggered an alert to the woman’s phone. She contacted his supervisor Capt. Steve Hirjak to check on him because she said he had been in a “downward spiral” since they broke up.
Hirjak and DV unit Lt. Yvonne Underwood spoke with Hamlin, who insisted he still had a legal right to be in the house and that the AC unit was his property. Hirjak determined that there were no signs of forced entry or damage and that he still had residency, therefore “no crime had occurred.”
The woman disputed this, arguing that she and Hamlin had agreed he would get his things while she was there. She didn’t want Hamlin’s daughter in the home alone because she claimed his daughter had stolen from her in the past.
DV Allegations
Hamlin wasn’t charged for the alleged break-in because there was a controversy over whether he had the right to enter the house. KC Sheriff’s deputies left, allowing him to continue removing things from the home.
However, during the follow-up investigation, his ex alleged repeated domestic abuse.
The woman recounted multiple incidents but could only remember the two most recent dates. During the Watershed Music Festival in the summer of 2021, she alleged that Hamlin slammed her into an RV after she suggested he stop drinking.
Once, when Hamlin was “belligerently drunk,” she says he held her down and choked her while also vomiting on her. He had no recollection of this the next day.
On Aug. 11, 2021, she told detectives she tried to voice her concerns about Hamlin’s impending retirement in December. He wouldn’t collect his pension for two years, so he would be relying on her until it kicked in. She had recently been diagnosed with stomach cancer.
He was playing video games and ignoring her. She asked Hamlin a few times to hug her. According to her statement, he finally put down the controller and wrapped his forearm around her nose and mouth, suffocating her. She had to hit him until he let go.
She said Hamlin laughed and said, “There. You got your hug.”
The investigating detective recommended a charge of assault in the second degree to the King County prosecutor’s office. It seems that the prosecutor didn’t charge him, as there is no record of a criminal case involving Hamlin.
Timesheet Theft, Mishandling Evidence
In addition to the domestic assault claims, Hamlin’s ex also made other allegations about his work with SPD, according to police reports.
Hamlin was working from home during COVID. She said he usually woke up, clocked in, and returned to bed until noon. After that, he would work out in the garage for a while. When she confronted him about “stealing time,” Hamlin said he would work a case or two in the afternoon and “it would be fine.”
The Office of Police Accountability had investigated Hamlin for time theft in 2018 after receiving an anonymous complaint—likely from another police officer. The complainant alleged that Hamlin conspired with his supervisor Dorothy Kim to cheat on time sheets.
The OPA claimed it couldn’t substantiate the allegations based on the limited information provided by the complainant. The OPA Auditor (the precursor to the Office of the Inspector General) found that additional investigation was needed, but the OPA was past the 180-deadline set in the police guild contract.
Hamlin’s ex also said he left two large bags containing evidence and sensitive information about victims around the house and didn’t take them with him when he left. She tried to return them to him, but he blocked her calls and threw them in the dumpster at his condo.
Early Retirement
Hamlin retired in December 2021. An active OPA investigation may have motivated his decision to retire early. DivestSPD published a thread of violent and inflammatory posts Hamlin made on Facebook in April. In one, he referred to Black Lives Matter as a “domestic terrorist organization.” He shared COVID denialism in another.
Ofc. Andrei Constantin was terminated last year for making similar posts. It’s common for senior SPD officers facing serious misconduct allegations to retire before they are fired. Hamlin’s social media (2021OPA-0182) and domestic violence (2021OPA-0457) cases are still active.
Hamlin isn’t the only member of SPD’s domestic violence unit to face these allegations. Former DV unit Sgt. Ron Murray was arrested for domestic violence in 2011 after he was seen dragging his girlfriend across a gravel parking lot by her hair at Octoberfest in Leavenworth.
Though the assault was witnessed by local sheriff’s deputies and numerous bystanders, charges against Murray were dismissed, and he remained at SPD until retirement.