A family is taking aim at Seattle’s police, paramedics, and Mayor Jenny Durkan after their son was fatally shot in the city’s Capitol Hill Organized Protest area.
“For close to twenty whole minutes, Seattle Police and Fire Departments communicated with dispatchers on separate radio channels, communicated the wrong locations, and miscommunicated the procedures for providing medical attention to Lorenzo,” claims a potential lawsuit in the death of 19-year-old Lorenzo Anderson.
“Meanwhile, 19-year-old Lorenzo lay helpless on the pavement, bleeding to death while 911 calls continued to pour in, with bystanders begging authorities to send help. As Lorenzo’s pulse faded, volunteers performed CPR while other bystanders were on the phone with emergency dispatchers, receiving conflicting information about how to get Lorenzo into the ambulance once it arrived.”
MORE THAN A DOZEN ARRESTED AS POLICE CLEAR OUT SEATTLE’S CHOP AREA
Anderson’s death occurred in Seattle’s lawless CHOP zone, a seven-block “autonomous zone” near the city’s Capitol Hill that was formed during Black Lives Matter protests in response to the death of George Floyd last summer.
The area became notoriously dangerous, with self-appointed security guards patrolling the barriers to the area with semi-automatic rifles. The protesters also limited police access to the area, setting a curfew for police to leave the zone by 10 p.m.
It was after that curfew that a 911 call came in to report Anderson’s shooting. While there was a Seattle Fire Department ambulance about two blocks from where the incident occurred, the fire department claimed the area was too dangerous to enter without a police escort.
That delay in response eventually triggered the complaint, with the family claiming Anderson did not receive help until about 20 minutes after he was shot, despite help being roughly five minutes away.
“The Seattle EMT was less than a minute away from Lorenzo as he bled out, and the Seattle Police were less than 5 minutes away from him as he bled out. Essentially, Lorenzo was left to die,” the lawsuit claims.
Anderson was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:45 a.m.
“If they had went in there and did their job, I believe my son would still be alive, and I wouldn’t have to be going through this right now,” Anderson’s father, Horace Anderson, said of the emergency response. “They let him bleed to death. Somebody needs to be held accountable.”
The lawsuit also took aim at the mayor, claiming she encouraged an environment that led to a death that was “preventable and predictable.”
“The Mayor of Seattle motivated and nurtured CHOP as [she] believed the occupation of the area was creating a ‘summer of love,’” the claim reads. “However, as many well know, it became a ‘summer of blood.'”
Anderson was not the only shooting victim in the city’s CHOP zone, with one 33-year-old being critically wounded by gunfire on the same night as Anderson’s death. Two more teenagers were shot a week and a half later, one fatally.
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“We intend to investigate these brought claims and will defend the city in this matter,” Dan Nolte, a spokesman for the Seattle City Attorney’s Office, said in response to the claims.
