DivestSPD Profile picture
Seattle's grassroots police watchdog. Got a good tip about a bad cop? DM us. Sustain our work with a monthly donation at https://t.co/6vE1PffA5b

Jun 7, 2021, 11 tweets

CRG officer Richard Bonesteel is a real charmer.
He went on two dates last year that ended with a woman calling the cops because he was belligerently drunk and abusive. (THREAD)

Bonesteel may go by Richard, but acts like a “Dick” both on and off the job.

According to an OPA complaint, the friend of a woman in Renton Bonesteel was dating called 911 after he drunkenly manhandled her during a dispute. (1/9)

The local police declined to arrest him and OPA also recommended no discipline for the incident.

Months later, there was a similar fracas at a different woman’s house—this time in Edmonds. The woman called EPD to report Bonesteel was drunk and wouldn’t leave. (2/9)

OPA sustained a complaint against him, but curiously noted that this was “out of character” for him.

Really?

From 2012-2020 OPA investigated Bonesteel 19 times. Four were sustained, and one resulted in suspension. (3/9)

In a recent complaint from the 2020 protests, Bonesteel rudely berated an Asian woman.

He asked if she was “born here,” invoking the anti-Asian “perpetual foreigner” trope.

OPA didn’t sustain bias allegations, but gave Bonesteel a training referral for professionalism (4/9)

In 2017, Bonesteel received multiple complaints over an incident that occurred at a post-Charlottesville anti-hate rally in which he violently shoved a woman.

OPA ruled that it was impossible to determine from the evidence whether the push was justified. (5/9)

In a 2016 complaint, it was alleged that Bonesteel used excessive force when he put his knee on the head of an arrestee. Though this was reported by a civilian witness, OPA judged this “inconclusive” because it wasn’t captured on video. (6/9)

In 2014, a complaint alleged he retaliated against a woman for asking for his identification during a Terry stop. He tells the woman she’s free to go, but when she asks for his ID, he gets snippy & detains her further to run her name for warrants. (7/9)

Bonesteel has an unusually high amount of reported force—nearly 60 instances since 2014. 35% of those were against Black people (7% of Seattle’s population) (8/9)

Bonesteel was featured in one of SPD’s “Officers in their Own Words” propaganda videos. It has since been removed from Youtube. 🤔(9/9)

Tip the author of this thread (@justwardoctrine) at venmo.com/JWard3000

Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.

A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.

Keep scrolling