Demanding Justice for John T. Williams, Police Murder Victim

When John T. Williams was shot dead by Officer Ian Birk for the “crime” of carrying a legal 3” knife, the Seattle Police Department initially claimed the beloved 50-year-old Native American woodcarver aggressively charged at the cop. But then eyewitnesses came forward and reported that Williams wasn't hostile at all -- in fact, they said he didn't even turn toward the officer.

Then last month video from Officer Birk's dashboard camera was released that – pardon the expression – shot the official story to hell, showing Williams was fired upon just four seconds after he was first told to drop his woodcarving knife. Half of the eight jurors who were part of an inquest into the shooting said there was no way Williams had enough time to comply. Just one said he probably did.

Now it's up to King Country Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, who ordered the inquest, to do the next logical thing: charge Officer Birk with murder, as any mere civilian without a shiny badge would have been charged long ago in similar circumstances. And activists are working to make sure that happens.

“We believe that in order for there to be peace, there must be justice, and justice only is possible when our system of laws applies to all people in our society regardless of their job,” Sherri Day, a member of the John T. Williams Organizing Committee, tells Change.org. Last Friday, she and other activists delivered more than 1,300 signatures to Prosecutor Satterberg's office demanding that all King Country residents – including police officers – be treated equally before the law. And on Sunday, she launched an online petition here at Change.org in order to give Satterberg a “daily reminder” of the people's will.

“We're excited by the reception this has had so far and look forward to seeing this officer in court,” Day says. “But ultimately we need our laws changed so that the police are held accountable for their activities in our marginalized communities.”

And judging by the Seattle P.D.'s rushed response to the shooting, immediately declaring it justified and smearing a dead man as a dangerous drunkard before all the facts were in, shows the police culture in King County needs to change too. The public – all those folks not fortunate enough to have badges and a police union to defend their every decision – and the safety of taxpayers should be the top priority for police, not protecting their colleagues from the consequences of their actions.

And after all, Officer Birk is not a cop with which other, good police officers should wish to be associated. Nor, for that matter, are many other members of the Seattle police, which the Justice Department announced on Monday it has launched an investigation into to determine whether it has engaged in a pattern of using excessive force, especially against minorities.

Officer Birk's a good example of that pattern. Rather than deescalate the situation before him, the dashboard video shows Officer Birk eager to pull the trigger – which he did, four times, not even allowing Williams – who was merely crossing the street when his killer came upon him – enough time to even comply with the order to “put down the knife.”

A more careful cop may also have considered the fact that a man of 50 may not have the hearing of a 20 year old; indeed, Williams was deaf in his left ear. An eyewitness to the shooting said he “didn't even look up at the officer.”

Soon after the killing, which occurs around the 1:00 mark, an eyewitness can be heard in the video pleading with the officer to know why he just shot a man who clearly posed no threat. Birk's answer – “Ma'am, he had a knife and he wouldn't put it down” – didn't satisfy her, nor did it satisfy many jurors who watched the video during the inquest. And it shouldn't satisfy Prosecutor Satterberg either.

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Photo Credit: John T. Williams Organizing Committee