• Weather
• Transportation/Traffic
• Consumer
• Education
• Environment
• Politics
• Election '08
• Real Estate
• Webtowns/Neighborhoods
• Under the Needle
• Obituaries
• Special Reports
• Corrections

• Election '08
• U.S.
• Washington, D.C.
• Africa
• Asia
• Australia
• Canada
• Europe
• Latin America
• Middle East

• Mariners/MLB
• Seahawks/NFL
• Sonics/NBA
• Storm/WNBA
• Sounders FC/Soccer
• College Football
• College Basketball
• High Schools
• Snow Sports
• Other Sports
• Art Thiel
• Jim Moore

• Boeing
• Microsoft
• VC Notebook
• Bill Virgin
• Real Estate
• Wire
• Tech Wire
• Personal Finance
• Sci-Tech
• Layoff Tracker

• Event Calendar
• Movies - Showtimes
• TV & Radio - Listings
• Restaurants/Dining
• Music
• Local Bands
• Books
• Video Games
• Theater/Fine Arts
• People
• A&E Wire
• Going Out
• Staying In

• Pets
• Food
• Seattle@Home
• NW Gardens
• Getaways/Outdoors
• Visitors Guide
• Health & Fitness
• Fashion
• Parenting
• MomSeattle
• DadSeattle
• Advice Columnists
• Horoscope
• Wheels

• Comics & Games
• Crossword

• Photos
• MySeattlePix
• Multimedia
• AP Video
• Buy Photos

• Editorials
• Letters
• David Horsey
• Forums
• Soundoffs
• Joel Connelly
• Robert Jamieson
• D. Parvaz
• Mary Swift

• Staff Blogs
• Reader Blogs
• Blog for us

• Home Delivery
• Mobile
• e-Edition
• E-mail Newsletters
• RSS Feeds
• P-I Reader
• Twitter

• Online ads
• Online text ads
• Newspaper ads
• Classified ads

• Classifieds
• Shopping
• Pets
• Personals
• Place an ad

But police say suspects come from all races and genders

Saturday, March 3, 2001

By LEWIS KAMB
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Roving bands of young black men -- videotaped and photographed brutalizing whites during Seattle's Fat Tuesday riot -- prompted black community leaders yesterday to meet with the mayor and police chief, and denounce "the vilification of African Americans."

Blacks, they said, are unfairly being depicted in news accounts as the sole instigators of the mayhem that erupted in Pioneer Square, resulting in one death, at least 71 injuries, two dozen arrests and tens of thousands of dollars in property damage.

"The media has a responsibility to portray what's accurate," said the Rev. Samuel B. McKinney of Mount Zion Baptist Church. "It can be made to appear that the majority of these attacks were racially motivated -- but that's not the whole picture."

Urban League President James Kelly stressed that he and other community leaders "don't condone any of this senseless violence."

"We support the (police) chief and we want to offer our help to ensure this type of behavior never happens again," he said. "We also want to make sure that police are investigating all of the folks who were involved in this abhorrent behavior -- not just African Americans, but all people."

	Kris Kime is carried away from the scene in Pioneer Square where he was assaulted. Kime died from his injuries. Paul Kitagaki Jr. / Seattle Post-Intelligencer Click for larger photo Click for more photos

Since the alcohol-fueled riot, police and local news organizations have been flooded with calls and e-mails from outraged citizens who have branded the majority of the Mardi Gras attacks black-on-white hate crimes.

Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske rejected that notion yesterday. He said his department's investigation into the riot, including numerous interviews with victims and witnesses, has found no evidence that the violence was racially motivated.

"There is nothing that says the selection of the victims or the words used ... were related to race," he said.

Those arrested so far represent a spectrum of races and appear equally responsible for the brutality that bloodied the streets of Seattle's oldest neighborhood on the final night of Mardi Gras festivities.

"We've got suspects who are males and females, blacks, whites, Asians -- even one East Indian," said police Sgt. Gary Nelson, who is assigned to a task force investigating the melee.

"What we have here is people from all walks of life just beating up anybody and everybody they could. I don't know what motivated these people," he said, "but basically the common denominator is young and intoxicated."

But Urban League President Kelly fears misconceptions about the incident are spurring anti-black sentiment. He said his organization heard from downtown merchants who said African Americans should be barred from the Bite of Seattle festival, and several black church leaders have received "threatening calls."

"Listen to talk radio. We're being vilified pretty bad," he said.

Police have also been criticized, even from within their own ranks, for waiting too long to disperse Fat Tuesday crowds when the celebration turned ugly after midnight.

Some critics have said that police looked on with orders not to act, while brawls and vandalism broke out, and roaming gangs flogged men and women senseless in the streets.

Police Officers' Guild President Mike Edwards said this week that several of the 350 officers at the scene late Tuesday and early Wednesday have since voiced frustrations "that they were held back" from quelling the violence.

The parents of Kris Kime, a 20-year-old Auburn man who died Wednesday after being beaten, also wonder why police failed to move quickly to aid victims.

Kime, who tried to rescue a woman from being trampled in the crowd, was smashed over the head with a bottle, and kicked and stomped by a group of men.

"You want to be angry at someone," Kimberly Kime-Parks, the victim's mother, said Thursday. "It seemed like when police finally did come in with the tear gas, they were able to disperse the crowd rather quickly. But, by that time, Kris was already in the hospital."

Kerlikowske and Mayor Paul Schell have defended police tactics, saying the unruly hordes, numbering more than 4,000, prevented police and medics from safely penetrating the crowds. On several occasions when officers advanced to make an arrest, drunken revelers hurled bottles, rocks and other objects. At least two officers were injured.

"No one, particularly myself, wants to see a car damaged, a person injured or something like that," Kerlikowske said this week. "But I also know the spark sending a group of officers into a crowd of 4,000 can cause. I think it was a wise and smart decision to wait until people had left the crowd and it was much more manageable."

To nab those responsible for the violence, Kerlikowske established the Mardi Gras Task Force -- a team of seven detectives and two sergeants.

In a fifth-floor room in the Public Safety Building, investigators yesterday took calls, filled out tip sheets and posted snapshots of the Fat Tuesday thuggery on bulletin boards. A large printout of a computerized matrix of suspects' names, times, places and criminal activities adorned a wall. In an outside waiting room, several young men waited to tell detectives what they knew.

"It's a labor-intensive endeavor, without a doubt," Sgt. Nelson said.

Already, the task force has received hundreds of hot line calls identifying the people caught on videotape engaging in mob violence. Some of the tips have come from teachers and parole officers. Even a few horrified mothers have called, turning in their sons.

As of late yesterday, police had identified a handful of additional suspects, Nelson said. Officers expected to make arrests this weekend.

On Thursday, the task force arrested an 18-year-old Shoreline man, who police say used brass knuckles and worked with others to attack people early Wednesday. He is expected to be charged with rioting. Bail was set yesterday at $1,000.

HOW TO HELP

If you have information about anyone involved in the Pioneer Square Mardi Gras assaults, call Seattle police at 206-233-3896.

Police are also interested in talking to victims and reviewing video footage or photographs of the violence.

P-I reporter Lewis Kamb can be reached at 425-497-1128 or lewiskamb@seattle-pi.com P-I reporter Kery Murakami contributed to this report.