The Divest Digest: June 3, 2026
This Issue: Mike Solan runs for office, Kettle calls for a new SCORE contract, and an inquest probes the fatal police shooting of SeattleU student Derek Hayden
Former Police Guild President Runs for Office
Late last month, a judge gave former Seattle police guild president Mike Solan the go-ahead to run for Pierce County Council even though he did not meet the basic requirements. Solan registered to vote in Pierce County only two months before he filed. The county charter says candidates must be registered for at least a year. If he wins, he won’t be the only Seattle cop in Pierce County politics. Previously, Captain Keith Swank quit the department before he could be fired for racist and transphobic Twitter posts. He almost moved to Florida but decided to go for county sheriff after he claimed God spoke to him in a hot tub. Swank has continuously lobbied to overturn state sanctuary laws so that he can partner with ICE. Pierce County is also home to the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, the region’s only ICE detention center. Similarly, Solan has been seen meeting with the “architect of family separation,” Tom Homan.
Unlawful Flock Stop Ends in Brain Damage
A King County Sheriff’s Deputy in Covington detained the wrong man based on a Flock camera hit and hospitalized him with a traumatic brain injury after performing a suplex on him. The King County Office of Law Enforcement Oversight (OLEO) found that Deputy John Welch didn’t have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to detain the man. The Flock notification for a stolen vehicle contained no description of the driver or passengers. Welch’s other justification for the stop — that the man gave him a suspicious look — wasn’t supported by the video evidence. And if it were, it still would not justify a detention. OLEO cited Washington Supreme Court case law, which found that startled reactions or nervousness aren’t sufficient to justify a detention. According to the deflock map, Covington has 10 mapped ALPR cameras, at least four of which are operated by the Covington Police Department (the King County Sheriff’s Office contracts with Covington), two by Home Depot, and the rest are either traffic cameras and/or unknown operators.
Council Public Safety Hawks Want New SCORE Contract, Stadium Cameras On
At this week’s Seattle City Council Public Safety Committee, Chair Bob Kettle called for the city to resume its contract with the deadly SCORE jail, and councilmember Rob Saka pushed for the city to activate its CCTV cameras ahead of the FIFA World Cup. The contract with SCORE was scrapped in the last budget cycle. It’s no longer being used now that the King County Jail accepts misdemeanor bookings. The previous SCORE contract was approved shortly after the facility marked its seventh in-custody death in 18 months. Kettle is soft-launching new excuses to bring it back. Saka engaged in goofy theatrics for 12 minutes, urging Mayor Wilson to turn on the stadium CCTVs, citing his presence at the Boston Marathon bombing as well as his military background. The stadium cameras have been installed despite the so-called “pause,” with the stipulation that they will remain deactivated unless there’s an undefined “credible threat.”
Since that committee meeting, Seattle Times’ reported that Kettle sent a letter to Mayor Wilson suggesting the so-called pause of the surveillance expansion isn’t legal, alleging that “proper steps” weren’t taken. All but one of the existing 310 CCTV cameras are running, the entire SDOT camera network is operational, and an undisclosed number of private cameras are still streaming into the Real-Time Crime Center. Meanwhile, Kettle, Saka, and Rivera are huffing and puffing about a brief “pause” in the use of a few cameras, representing only a tiny fraction of that sprawling panopticon, which is already plenty damaging.
Inquest Into the Fatal 2021 Shooting of Derek Hayden Begins
On Monday, King County began its inquest into the fatal shooting of Seattle University student Derek Hayden in 2021. Hayden was experiencing a mental health crisis when he was shot by Seattle police officers Cassidy Butler and Willard Jared at the waterfront. While the Office of Police Accountability found the shooting itself justified, both were later suspended for violating the department’s de-escalation policy. Port of Seattle police and SPD officers had been tailing Hayden, who had a knife, from a distance, but Jared and Butler drove to within 20 feet of him, got out of their vehicle, and opened fire in less than 10 seconds. Hayden’s family was awarded $1.5 million. Testimony on the first day of the inquest included port police and Seattle officers, such as West Precinct Officer Tanner Jay, who was twice the subject of investigations into dishonesty allegations that just stopped just shy of sustained findings. The inquest is a non-criminal, fact-finding process, and it will last until Friday. You can follow the proceedings remotely here.
Beyond the Puget Sound…
Spokane 3 Found Guilty
A jury found the Spokane 3 guilty of federal conspiracy charges stemming from an anti-ICE protest there last June that was followed by police raids. Like the prosecution of the Prairieland and Stop Cop City defendants, this is yet another canary in the coalmine for the criminalization of dissent and the escalation of repression under President Trump’s NSPM-7.
Detention Center Hunger Strikes
This past week, a hunger strike at NWDC faced retaliation again, and at least 500 are involved in hunger strikes at five other detention facilities across the country, including Delaney Hall in NJ, where protests happening in tandem outside have faced massive force from state troopers and federal agents.
OII Investigating Its First Nonfatal Police Shooting
The Washington State Office of Independent Investigations (OII) is—for the first time—investigating a non-fatal police shooting by Vancouver Police Officer Alexander Zaferis that occurred on May 28. "The person shot in this case was reported to have life-threatening injuries. This prompted the OII response and current investigation. It is the first non-fatal use of force OII has investigated since it began responding to such incidents in December 2024.
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