Steve Heriak
The recently demoted Seattle police commander filed a $5.48 million claim for discrimination and retaliation against the city, accusing Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz (Adrian Diaz) of having him in clashes between police and racial justice demonstrators last year. Become a scapegoat.
In a claim filed on July 29, Captain Steve Hirjak stated that Diaz downgraded another commander’s misconduct and wrongly accused him, who ordered the officers in riot gear to use tear gas and address the generally peaceful crowd. The projectile was launched on June 1, 2020.
The Seattle Times reported that after a police officer had a tug-of-war match with a protester for a pink umbrella, the police broke out outside the eastern part of the department. Police tactics captured in multiple videos that were widely shared and aroused public outrage .
The 51-year-old Hirjak, a 27-year veteran, became the department’s first Asian assistant director in 2018. He believes that his May 26 demotion and other abuses have damaged his career and “because of my race. Discriminate against me and treat my white employees in different ways.”
An 11-page letter written by Hirjak’s lawyer Toby Marshall also disclosed the names of several other senior commanders—all of them white—he said that despite allegations of misconduct or mistakes, they Either get a promotion, or evade responsibility in last year’s demonstrations.
A Seattle police spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Hirjak’s allegations.
