Doc: Police mistook stomping victim for armed suspect
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Prosecutors have charged Pedro J. Martinez and Hector M. Veteta-Contreras in the robberies that took place in the early morning hours of April 17 outside the China Harbor Nightclub.
According to the statement of probable cause, Martinez, wielding a machete, demanded cash from two separate robbery victims in the parking lot of the club ain the 1000 block of Westlake Ave. N. just after 1 a.m.
When the second victim refused to hand over any money and turned to leave, Martinez hit the victim in the upper back with his machete, the document said. The strike didn't cut the victim, but it did bruise him and tear his shirt, according to investigators.
Detectives said Veteta-Contreras was also present for the second robbery, and flashed a revolver in his waistband at the victim.
Martinez has been charged with first-degree robbery and attempted robbery in the first degree. Veteta-Contreras has been charged with attempted robbery in the first degree.
The first robbery victim, who handed over $40 to Martinez, was not harmed, investigators said.
Both victims reported having been approached by four men who robbed them. No information was available about the remaining two robbers.
In the hours after the robberies, Seattle police detained three people, including one Hispanic man in their hunt for possible armed robbery suspects. An incident with one of the detainees was captured on tape, and shows a man lying face down without handcuffs and not under arrest.
Family members have confirmed the identity of the stomping victim as 21-year-old Martin Monetti.
On the video, you can hear Det. Shandy Cobane telling the man: "You got me? I'm going to beat the (expletive) Mexican piss out of you homey. You feel me?"
Seconds later, the man moves his hand, appearing to wipe his eye. The officer kicks him in the head as he wipes his boot on his hand. A female officer, identified as Mary Woollum by police sources, stomps on the his leg.
Police realize they detained the wrong man, lift him up, and let him go. The video does not show a medic arriving on scene, even though the man has cuts on his face, and appears to have trouble walking.
"I want you to relax your weight on the car, OK?" an officer is heard saying. "Put your hands back so you don't fall down."
A freelance photographer captured the video.
"So, they kicked you in the head man?" the photographer asked the victim. "Yeah they did," he replied.
When asked why, the victim replied: "I don't know. They just kicked me in the head, they knocked me in the head." He added he had nothing to do with what was going on.
The executive director of One America, an immigrant advocacy organization, said the video was just awful.
"The language that was used was just despicable, horrendous language," said Pramila Jayapal. "Language that was used was racist and the violence ... there was no reason."
Interim Seattle Police Chief John Diaz hasn't seen the video, but has ordered an investigation.
"I do have to say that if what I have to understand is on the video and what I heard is on the video, it's very disturbing to me," Diaz said. "There is going to be a thorough investigation."
Both Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and the Seattle City Council are expressing their concern about this incident and say they're waiting for a full report on the internal investigation.
The FBI has also launched its own routine investigation, and said it will forward any findings to the Civil Rights Section of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
The NAACP has asked the King County prosecutor to charge Cobane with a hate crime. James Bible, president of the group's Seattle chapter, said the officer's actions are fall clearly within the state's hate crime statute.
"We have no choice but to request that charges be filed against the detective in this particular case that made racial slurs as he hit and kicked a man that was face down on his stomach," Bible said.
He said the organization is also concerned about other officers seen on the video who stood by as the man was kicked.
"We are concerned that the blue wall of silence is alive and well at the expense of the people," Bible said.
Cobane and Woollum have been administratively reassigned while the investigation proceeds.
Prosecutors say they won't make any decision about possible criminal charges until Seattle Police have completed their investigation.
