Demonstrators flood Seattle streets after protester hospitalized following arrest

A Seattle group that holds regular marches in the city is returning to Capitol Hill Friday night, two days after a protester was taken to the hospital after being arrested by Seattle Police. Kelsey “Kel” Murphy-Duford, 30, is currently in satisfactory condition at Harborview Medical Center.

The Every Night Direct Demonstration posted on social media Friday they plan to meet in solidarity for Murphy-Duford — who two nights before was arrested and taken to the hospital.

On Wednesday night, Murphy-Duford was arrested by a group of Seattle Police bike officers who swarmed protesters near the East Police Precinct on Capitol Hill. City surveillance footage, captured on a police-worn body camera, shows multiple officers tackle Murphy-Duford to the ground and then pin him face-down in the street.

When he doesn’t respond to orders to sit up, one officer is heard saying he thinks Murphy-Duford is having a seizure and then says the medics are needed.

“We need SFD [Seattle Fire Department] for this prisoner,” the officer says.

Later Murphy-Duford is carried away on a stretcher by Seattle Fire and taken to Harborview.

Murphy-Duford went to Wednesday’s protest with a close friend, according to attorney Kristen Koehler of Stritmatter Kessler Koehler Moore law firm. Koehler said the two were there to demonstrate peacefully and rejected SPD’s allegation, made in an SPD Blotter post, that Murphy Duford was damaging property.

“He may have tried to put a small sticker onto a wall — but the sticker did not adhere and fell off,” Koehler said. “There was no basis for Kel being thrown to the ground and jumped on by multiple police. There was no basis for an arrest.”

Seattle Police also claim that Murphy-Duford’s medical emergency Wednesday night was “potentially related to a substance the subject had ingested prior to police contact.”

Koehler again rejected this accusation, and said she was outraged by the insinuation that Murphy-Duford was “responsible for the life threatening injuries suffered at the hands of the police.”

In that same blog entry from Seattle Police, the department wrote that Murphy-Duford “did not sustain any physical injuries during the arrest," however protesters who Koehler said she spoke with told her otherwise.

Koehler already represents 50 or so protesters, including Murphy-Duford, in a lawsuit against the city of Seattle regarding police use of force during this summer’s protests.

“A current client who saw everything was right there when it happened,” Koehler said. “The officer knocked Kel to the ground violently and heard the sound of a ‘crack’ as his head hit the pavement.”

Koehler was contacted by Murphy-Duford’s husband, Josh, on Thursday following the arrest. The same day she filed a claim for damages with the city of Seattle. A GoFundMe online fundraiser for Murphy-Durford has already raised almost $19,000 in less than a day. Friday’s solidarity protest starts at 8 p.m. at Volunteer Park Amphitheater.

On Friday Murphy-Duford’s condition at Harborview was upgraded to satisfactory.