Jared Brown

The boom in creator journalism is really exciting for so many reasons. But ngl, worrying about getting lumped in with folks doing haphazard reporting keeps me up at night. We have to hold each other accountable. Did we not learn “move fast and break things” is a bad motto?

So much admiration for @ericacbarnett.bsky.social for doing the sort of accountability work that few in Seattle have the guts for. Brainstorming a regular feature for truth2powerpnw.news on shoddy cops & courts reporting along these lines…

Shon Barnes at a Seattle City Council meeting sitting at a table

New Seattle Police Department Chief Shon Barnes outlined his strategy in a presentation to the Seattle City Council, pledging the department would put scandals behind it and forge ahead with new resolve.

Story: www.theurbanist.org/2025/03/04/c...

This is the “dummy grenade” that Branden was holding. His family has said he used it as a worry stone after his therapist gifted it to him.

Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett signed this personally, which often isn’t the case. Cops know why not to talk to the cops:
“… it is impossible to determine what they were thinking. They were, however, faced with what objectively appeared to be an imminent life-threatening situation.”

How Pierce County prosecutors summarize it in decline letter to Sheriff Keith Swank:

There used to be a #JusticeforManny banner on this bench. Lulu’s Bakery Shop just keep looking cuter, though.

It wasn’t close btw

I quit ‘the news’—not Journalism. Support my book on Manny Ellis, PNW cop killings & cover-ups Less information, more wisdom. Introducing Truth to Power Northwest, a digital civil rights magazine fueled by community.

Help me write a book about not just Manny, but Jesse, Branden, and countless others killed, and the broken system that denies accountability while enabling ongoing harm. #JusticeforMannyEllis #JusticeforJesseSarey #JusticeforBrandenVorak #Truth2Power

Just a few minutes ago, the mother of Branden Vorak called to tell me the prosecutor's office is supposed to release its findings soon, nearly three years after he was killed by Pierce County deputies. Vorak was suffering a mental health crisis walking along train tracks before he encountered LE.

On my way home, I learned ex-Auburn officer Jeff Nelson convicted of the murder of Jesse Sarey surrendered his certification to CJTC. It clears the way for the state to revoke his license to police without another yearslong process of lawyering. But it won't stop him from appealing his conviction.

Yesterday was the five-year anniversary of #MannyEllis' killing by #TacomaPolice. As fate would have it, I was in town for some appointments. After I decided to make the walk from 7-Eleven to the intersection of 96th & Ainsworth and was just about to head home, a TPD cruiser blew the red light.

I quit ‘the news’—not Journalism. Support my book on Manny Ellis, PNW cop killings & cover-ups Less information, more wisdom. Introducing Truth to Power Northwest, a digital civil rights magazine fueled by community.

Something Jon Stewart said on @thedailyshow.com about national political media earlier this year has been stuck in my head:

“We must be vigilant. But part of vigilance is discernment.”

My latest, and first in a while, at a new url: truth2powerpnw.news

The folo I was not expecting on one of the last “happy” stories I did for The SR in 2020. @alexdugganreports.bsky.social picks up on a nightmare 5 years later…

Seattle City Council approves police use of blast balls, pepper spray, tear gas during protests The Seattle City Council Tuesday reauthorized the use of blast balls, pepper spray, and pepper by police for crowd-control purposes, despite the objections of people who said they were impacted by tho...

The Seattle City Council Tuesday reauthorized the use of blast balls, pepper spray, tear gas, and pepper balls by police for crowd-control purposes.

Meanwhile me open carrying my muscle relaxers I just got inside for the mental gymnastics y’all make me do 😬 @seattlepolice.bsky.social @seattlepolicedept.bsky.social

Watched Seattle PD cops enforce the public drug use ordinance by making a guy stomp his glass pipe on the sidewalk outside the John St. Safeway. Then another unit rolled up. “A lot better than going to jail” the two guys told me. “They were hella cool about it.”

Wonderful. I can feel better drinking here 😅

Run this down, would ya? @alexhalverson.bsky.social I was going to troll our ginger friend too but see he’s still in the bad blue place

My top guilty pleasures combine: beer, IP law, petty small-town politics. And yes, Seattle is a small town.

I'm genuinely too poor to understand how one ends up with $1.2 million in credit card debt

Learning @seattlekraken.com may be quite litigious and pressured Fremont Brewing to change the name of its Sky Kraken IPA, which, *big if true*, feels kinda like just desserts for Sara Nelson

Have never experienced such built up anticipation hoping a slip opinion will load @wacourts.bsky.social 😅🙏🙌

Hell hath frozen over

🧵

So many new friends!

Tacoma Police official cites racial bias in resignation amid ethics probe The top-ranking civilian under Tacoma Police Chief Avery Moore has resigned. Former Chief of Staff Curtis Hairston said he left due to racial bias the same day he was cleared in an ethics investigatio...

Original story from November: www.knkx.org/tacoma/2023-...

KNKX Public Radio reported last year that Hairston resigned from TPD on Oct. 11, citing racial bias. www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/a...

Excessive force, racial bias lawsuit against Tacoma police will end with $300K settlement Tacoma officers searching a park singled out Zimmeri Contreraz sitting alone at a picnic table and detained him, saying he matched the description of a Black suspect.

Heard first on KNKX: Excessive force, racial bias lawsuit against Tacoma police will end with $300K settlement www.knkx.org/tacoma/2024-...

Mayor Brandon Scott responds to racially-charged ‘DEI’ label “We know what these folks really want to say when they say DEI mayor,” Scott told The Banner.

Baltimore’s mayor responds to social media posts labeling him a “DEI Mayor.”

“They really want to say the ‘n’ word,” Mayor Scott told the Baltimore Banner. “But there is nothing they can do and say to me that is worse than the treatment of my ancestors.”