ABCNews.com
December 8, 1999
By Jonathan Dube

SEATTLE -- The tear gas has lifted, downtown businesses have re-opened and the international delegates are gone. The World Trade Organization protests may be over, but the fallout is just beginning.

Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper announced his resignation Tuesday and now others are calling for the resignation--or even impeachment--of Mayor Paul Schell.

At least one police officer has been suspended for assaulting a civilian. The city is facing a lawsuit filed against another officer who allegedly pepper sprayed two women while they were in a car.

And tonight the city council launched an investigation into the city's handling of the protests, drawing a crowd of hundreds of citizens eager to share tales of victimization. If the stories they told at the public hearing are proven true, the city will surely face many more lawsuits and resignations in the coming months.

Officers Out of Control?

After tens of thousands of protesters swamped the city's downtown on Nov. 30 and vandals destroyed storefronts and covered buildings with graffiti, the mayor declared a civic emergency and made the downtown off-limits to protesters. Officers in riot gear hurled tear gas and fired rubber bullets at protesters to drive them out of the downtown area.

But residents say the officers got out of control, attacking non- violent protesters and innocent pedestrians while ignoring the few dozen anarchists responsible for most of the vandalism.

At tonight's hearing, dozens of residents described being sprayed with tear gas and pepper spray while walking home from work or shopping. One woman with asthma said she continues to have trouble breathing a week after inhaling the tear gas.

Others told how officers threw tear gas canisters into the doorways of restaurants and businesses, trapping customers inside and causing fumes to seep in. Several said they called 911 during the chaos and were either hung up on or told that no one was available to help them.

"When I Tell You to Move, You Move"

Ken Schulman, a Schell-appointed member of the Seattle Commission on Sexual Minorities, said he was eating dinner in an Indian restaurant on Capitol Hill when he saw officers start launching tear gas canisters without warning ÷ and with no demonstrators in sight, only innocent residents.

"It was outrageous and inappropriate police conduct," he said.

Barbara Liberace, 60, fought back tears while sharing her experience. She said she was walking to her downtown doctor's office for her chemotherapy treatment on Wednesday, inside the area police had cordoned off as a "no-protest zone." Liberace said an officer yelled at her, "Bitch, when I tell you to move, you will move," and then hit her with a baton.

Pointing to the sling on her left arm, Liberace said the officer broke her wrist and injured her rotator cuff. She said she is devastated because she was working toward her high school degree and planning on graduating this spring with her daughter. Now her studies will be delayed because she needs surgery, so they won't be able to graduate together.

When Liberace asked council members for some advice, the crowd of residents yelled, "Sue the city! Sue the city!"

Still Suffering From Tear Gas

Jennifer Whitney, who was the medical team coordinator for the Direct Action Network, the group that organized the protests, said she's receiving 40 calls a day from people who are still suffering from the tear gas. She said her team of 60 medical professionals treated 4,000 people who were injured by tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and assaults from police officers.

"We demand that the police retract their claims that there were no serious injuries," she said.

She said they treated hundreds of people hit in the face and head with rubber bullets, including one young woman who, after being shot in the head, got pepper sprayed in her face and then was hit by a baton. She said one officer used his baton to hit a wheelchair-bound man with multiple sclerosis.

Whitney said that even though police had promised to leave the medics alone, officers sprayed pepper spray in the faces of medics while they were treating injured protesters. At other times they confiscated medics' supplies, she said. In one case, she said, an officer grabbed the bottle of water that a medic was using to wash the face of a person suffering from tear gas and poured it out.

Consensus: City Screwed Up

The consensus among those who spoke was clear: the city screwed up by planning poorly. And once the city realized the officers were outnumbered, the police overreacted.

Many city council members are blaming Paul Schell for the chaos and are particularly angry about not being included in the planning process.

But some aren't satisfied with the council's inquiry. The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington has called for the city to appoint an independent review panel to do its own investigation free of political influence.

Judging from tonight's hearing, there's plenty to investigate.