Seattle’s Office of Inspector General has released a long-awaited trove of documents undergirding the investigation that led Mayor Bruce Harrell to fire then-Seattle police chief Adrian Diaz for dishonesty in December of 2024.

Today, let's dive into the history of SPD leadership in the aftermath of the George Floyd protests in 2020 to present times. Spoiler: heaps of lawsuits, corruption, and fakes jobs for your mistress – and a huge mess for city hall to clean up. We talk a little bit about the plight of SPD beat cops, and the measures city governments take to hold their employees accountable.

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Sources:

wrongful termination lawsuit against the City of Seattle and Mayor Bruce Harrell

OIG investigation

Tompkins' $3 million complaint

initial misconduct investigation

supporting documents

Diaz filed a complaint

 Diaz was terminated on December 17, 2024

Image Source: KUOW

September 2020

SPD was also juggling

Diaz met Tompkins as a news anchor in the Seattle area

Tompkins' hiring causing a huge commotion across the department

Over 20 SPD officers spoke to KUOW anonymously

Seattle's policy on supervisor-employee relationships states

mayor’s office did not initially believe the rumors were enough cause to investigate Diaz

Diaz continued to accuse his top commanders of leaking rumors

clearly abused his power beyond creating a hush culture

more lawsuits came out from several female SPD officers

On May 29, 2024

Diaz then went on 770 KTTH and boldly stated that he was a gay man

Diaz denied the love letter

handwriting analysis

Diaz filed a lawsuit on October 11

deputy mayor Tim Burgess

Tompkins eventually resigned

fired Diaz on December 17, 2024

November 20, 2024

Harrel cite Diaz's affair as reason for dismissal

Inspector general published their report

letter embedded in news article

scheduled to enter mediation talks

allegedly refused to prematurely fire

Jaahnavi Kandula

SPD officer Kevin Dave on January 23, 2023

Auderer describes Kandula’s life

routine footage review by an SPD employee

would not press criminal charges against Kevin Dave

one OPA spokesperson with CNN

fired Auderer and shared her reasoning

Auderer filed a $20 million complaint against the City of Seattle

The Causes of Action: Diaz outlines the following in his lawsuit

Seattle Accountability Ordinance

Seattle Municipal Code Chapter 3.29

RCW 49.60.210

Silenced No More Act

municipal code

Inspector General Lisa Judge

PRA

defamation per se

Wage Rebate Act

Seattle’s Wage Theft Ordinance

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