Seattle: Killer Cop Assigned to Track Down Victim of Police Brutality!
December 16, 2012 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From a reader:
At this year's October 22nd National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation in Seattle, the speakers included family and friends of Jedidiah Waters and David Young, who were both murdered by the same Federal Way, Washington cop. They spoke with deep anguish and anger about the murder of their loved ones. A friend of Jedidiah shouted: "...I don't know how much more of this shit I can take...who the fuck are they protecting, and who the fuck are they serving? They don't protect or serve me. I don't call the police. They are the last people I call. They are a gang, they are the worst gang there is. They have the law on their side so if they do something wrong, they can cover it up and get away with it. It's bullshit." David's mother, Marie Young, said, "I want you to know, I miss my son so much. And this is getting ridiculous, all the hundreds and thousands across the United States," pointing at the Stolen Lives photos of people killed by police.
Matthew Leitgeb, the officer who carried out these murders, has never been charged with any crime, but instead was promoted to detective. Now it has come out that on top of this, this murderer has recently been assigned as the cop in charge of tracking down another victim of police brutality! He is going after a man who recently won a settlement for a notorious 2010 police brutality case caught on video in a Seattle convenience store. D'Vontaveous Hoston, 17 years old at the time, is shown passively standing with his hands up when viciously attacked. The few people successful in getting settlements for police brutality are often watched very closely by the police afterwards, and Hoston is now accused of discharging a firearm in a Federal Way apartment. A witness says the discharge was accidental. An October 31 Seattle Times article titled "Arrest warrant issued for man who earlier settled civil rights case with city of Seattle" has the words "Anyone with more information on his whereabouts can call Detective Matthew Leitgeb..." The article also says the amount of the arrest warrant is $50,000, which interestingly exceeds the $42,000 settlement awarded Hoston. And it includes the words "Federal Way police say Hoston should be considered armed and dangerous"—setting the stage to justify another street-level execution by killer cop Leitgeb or other Federal Way police.
The two slayings committed by Leitgeb were less than a year apart. Jedidiah Waters, 29, was gunned down in a Federal Way Walmart parking lot in July 2011. He was suspected of shoplifting, and was running away and thus not a threat. Leitgeb executed him with 11 shots. Incredibly, five of those were in the front, side, and back of the head. Police produced a gun said to belong to Jedidiah, but he had fired no shots. David Young, 23, was executed by Leitgeb in August 2010. David was suspected of driving a stolen truck, and Leitgeb shot him in the back of the head when the truck became stuck up on a fence. He then prevented medical care being applied to David for over 30 minutes. David, still alive, bled to death.
Friends and family of both David Young and Jedidiah Waters who courageously spoke out at the October 22nd National Day of Protest need the ongoing support of people nationwide. Marie Young, mother of David Young, has also filed a wrongful death suit. Inquests were held in both cases, but no charges were ever filed. In fact, no inquest in Washington State of a cop killing a person has ever resulted in criminal charges! All this is once more a demonstration of how there is indeed a conspiracy to get the cops off, and a need for increased political resistance to police brutality!
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