A Seattle police lieutenant received a written reprimand for telling officers to (expletive) people up" while responding to a counterprotest of a Christian fundamentalist rally last year at Cal Anderson Park.
The reprimand was the latest fallout from the Seattle Police Department's violent response to dueling demonstrations on May 24, 2025, on Capitol Hill, the historic hub of Seattle's LGBTQ+ community. Public outcry over Mayday USA's city-permitted event intensified after officers responded to counterprotesters with batons, bicycles, pepper spray and pepper ball launchers.
The seven-hour police response resulted in 23 arrests, and most of those charges were eventually dropped, according to a February review of the Police Department's response by Seattle’s office of inspector general for public safety.
In a statement Friday, interim police Chief Andre Sayles said he issued the reprimand following an investigation into the lieutenant's conduct by the civilian-led office of police accountability. The investigation concluded in June, finding the lieutenant violated professional standards and recommending up to a two-day suspension.
Sayles' statement did not identify the lieutenant by name but said the language he was heard using in body-worn camera footage "did not reflect the standards I expect of any Seattle police officer, and certainly not of a supervisor."
"Leaders set the tone for those they lead," Sayles wrote. "Every person in this city, whatever their identity or beliefs, deserves a police department that protects their rights fairly and treats them with dignity."
Two people submitted complaints in January to the office of police accountability after seeing the footage of the lieutenant, who serves as commander of the Police Department's Community Response Group.
"We're going in this time with guns blazing," the lieutenant tells officers in the footage. "We are past talking to people. We're here to (expletive) people up now."
In a May 5 interview with the office of police accountability, the lieutenant reportedly denied making those statements until after he was shown the footage. He told investigators he did not have concerns about how nearby officers could perceive his words but said he understood how they would be "embarrassing" for the Police Department, according to a summary of the investigation by Director Bonnie Glenn.
The lieutenant's language was "escalatory and disrespectful," reflected his intent to use "impermissible force" and created the impression officers were there to fight people, Glenn wrote.
About 500 people — and about just as many counterprotesters — flooded into Cal Anderson Park for the prayer rally and concert hosted by Mayday USA. The event was part of the organization's five-city tour promoting anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion viewpoints.
Seattle police didn't learn about the event until May 14, more than five weeks after the city's parks department approved a permit for it at Cal Anderson Park. Officers used fences to separate the two groups, but eventually began arresting people and using force against the swelling crowd of counterprotesters.
Among them was Gabriel Jones, 24, of Renton, a longtime volunteer protest medic. In a Tuesday interview, Jones said he was standing in the designated protest area when he heard screaming and saw police pepper-spraying protesters. He said he took a few steps forward when a police officer suddenly tackled him from behind and punched him repeatedly, as Jones yelled out, "I'm a medic."
Body-worn camera footage of the incident shows officers entering the counterprotest zone and knocking bystanders to the ground, including Jones, other volunteer medics and an older person with a cane, according to the inspector general's report.
Jones said the officer eventually ran off and Jones stood up, his head and body aching. He helped flush the pepper spray out of other protesters' eyes, then went to Harborview Medical Center, where he was treated for facial contusions and a concussion. He eventually had to stop working full time as a paraeducator due to complications from his head injury, Jones said.
The office of inspector general for public safety later asked Jones to be one of six community members and six Seattle police employees to participate in its panel review of the Police Department's response that day. All of the participants agreed to keep their conversations confidential, he said.
The group met Nov. 5, 6 and 7 at Seattle Municipal Tower conference room to review and discuss body-worn camera footage. On the third day, before watching one of the video clips, one of the Police Department panelists — Lt. Matthew Didier — acknowledged it was him speaking in the video, Jones said.
"He said, 'In the heat of the moment, I said something I shouldn't have,'" Jones said.
Jones left that meeting with "deep concerns" about the footage of Didier, and the footage of an officer tackling him. It wasn't clear to him how long the inspector general would take to publish its review, or if any of the footage they watched would ever be made public.
Jones said he decided to break the group's confidentiality agreement and tell local police watchdog group DivestSPD about what he had seen — a decision that resulted in the review process being cut short.
On Tuesday, Jones said he was right to be concerned there would be little accountability for Didier or the officer who tackled him and other medics.
The inspector general's Feb. 12 review mentions the footage of Didier but does not include the words he used, instead saying he used language that the community panelists found "inflammatory."
The day the review was published, Jones submitted a complaint to the office of police accountability about the officer who tackled and punched him. Investigators concluded Aug. 4 that the officer's use of force was "unreasonable, unnecessary, and disproportional" but said the agency could not issue a sustained finding because Jones' complaint was not submitted within six months of the incident.
Less than two months later, Jones learned of Didier's reprimand — "absolutely not" the right outcome, Jones said.
Didier did not respond to inquiries.
In an email, interim Chief Sayles said the Police Department has an LGBTQ+ liaison who works with the community and the city's LGBTQ+ advisory council. The agency evaluates its use of de-escalation practices and procedures after every large-scale event officers respond to, Sayles said.
The Police Department's response to last May's demonstrations and its aftermath, Jones said, "absolutely made me want to protest medic less, and to step back from protests or any type of organizing, and made me trust police infinitely less."
"There is a deep historic lack of trust between SPD and the queer community, and I have to say, this event made that worse, he said.
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