Video shows Seattle cop punching homeless man for no apparent reason

Recently, dash cam footage was released following an investigation in which a Seattle cop can be seen punching a homeless man for no apparent reason.

TheGrio Staff

Dec 19, 2015

Recently, dash cam footage was released following an investigation in which a Seattle cop can be seen punching a homeless man for no apparent reason.

The incident took place on January 3. Clark Dickson was a backup officer and had been dispatched to a homeless encampment in order to check the men to see if any had outstanding warrants. One man was arrested, and then Dickson moved on to 21-year-old Christopher Tavai.

Tavai was walked around to the front of the officers’ car and questioned about his identity. In the video, Dickson is standing in front of Tavai and then seemingly punches him for no reason. After the incident, Dickson said that he had punched the man because Tavai had spit at him, but there is not sufficient evidence to show that Tavai spit at Dickson.

The Office of Professional Accountability investigated the incident for several months before recommending that Dickson be suspended for two days without pay. They also recommended that Dickson undergo training, citing his behavior as an escalating factor in the confrontation.

“‘Stare down’ behavior combined with the body posturing, tone and tenor of the words exchanged between the Named Employee [Dickson] and subject escalated the interaction. While not rising to the level of a taunt, the conduct lead to the Named Employee being close enough to the subject to be spat on. The resulting punch was immediate and occurred even before the partner officer began reacting to the spit. Timing of his reaction suggests that the Named Employee’s actions were pre-meditated,” the OPA found.