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| Tatiana Albrecht leads a protest against Shoreline police. Photo by Sonya Reasor. |
On August 10, 2011, Shoreline Police were dispatched to a home on N 200th, just west of Aurora. The caller, Victor Albrecht, said to “come quick” and something about “fighting.....has a knife...blood everywhere.” Then he hung up.
Upon arrival, a 23 year old woman, who identified herself as the girlfriend, walked out of the house with bleeding cuts on her hands. She said her boyfriend, now identified as 22 year old David Albrecht, was suicidal, had a knife, and there was a rifle (actually a shotgun) in the house.
David emerged from the house carrying both the knife and the shotgun and walked toward the deputies. He was told several times to drop the gun and when he didn’t, both deputies fired. He was hit at least twice. Deputies tried to stem the bleeding by direct pressure but he died at the scene. (See previous SAN story)
On Thursday, Tatiana Albrecht (mother of David Albrecht) and about three dozen family members, friends and activists protested in front of the Shoreline Police Department for about an hour. Then they moved a block west to the more visible intersection with Aurora Avenue North
"Something needs to be changed," said Joel James, whose sister dated Albrecht. "The police need to be held more accountable for what they've done."
James said officers should have tried to "talk him down" instead of immediately firing their assault rifles. "We can't bring David back. It hurts all of us," he said. "What we can do is to make sure this doesn't happen to others."
Cynthia Whetsell, a Seattle member of the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, was at the protest.
"Hundreds of people are killed by police every year," she said. "It's a national epidemic," Whetsell said.
(David) Albrecht was convicted last year for felony assault of a police officer stemming from a night out drinking. He'd been ordered to go through a court-ordered rehab program, friends said, and had several other scapes with the law.
His girlfriend, who has not been named, filed several restraining order against him, one of which was in effect at the time of the shooting.
I do know that police brutality is an issue in Seattle, and other areas with select individuals (Most police officers are not bad.) In this case I believe the shooting was justified, when a man points a shotgun at you, you are forced to defend your self before you are killed. About the only way I could see this situation play out differently is if they aimed for his legs, which generally still doesn't disable a man from firing a shotgun at you. What bothers me is why are the parents (or mother in this case) protesting the excessive force, when the situation got out of their hand to the point where they had to call the police in the first place? I feel sorry for their loss, but what alternative did they have at this point? They shouldn't have allowed their son access to a firearm in the first place if he was having issues, and with the restraining orders, I imagine he's been having issues for quite some time. Maybe it was all planned as a self suicide, or the parents worked him up so they could go after the city? Who knows.
ReplyDeleteThat's just my opinion, based on what I've learned so far on that story. I welcome other opinions, I know I'm not as wise as many others.
I feel bad for the family of the boy killed, but the Police have to determine the situation at hand and do what is best. The parents should not have called if they expected kid gloves to show up. We pay the police to protect us and in turn they should protect themselves. Again, sorry for the parents, but...why did he have access for firearms and knives.
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