SEATTLE

Seattle Police Carried Out Improper Proud Boys Misinformation Effort, Watchdog Finds

The report found officers violated rules in carrying out a ruse that involved officers talking on police radios about a fake gathering of the far-right group

Seattle Proud Boys, a far right group,
Photo by Noah Riffe/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Seattle police officers improperly carried out a misinformation effort that described possibly armed Proud Boys descending on a racial justice protest in the summer of 2020, according to a report from a police watchdog agency released Wednesday.

The report from the Office of Police Accountability found one officer abused the “law enforcement discretion afforded to him” and another bore responsibility for the “improper” ruse, which involved officers talking on police radios about a fake gathering of the far-right group.

It also found the two officers violated department rules by acting dishonest in a situation in which it was not warranted because there was no immediate threat or other pressing need.

The radio chatter, which was being monitored by protesters in an area that became known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, helped inflame an already "volatile situation," the agency's director, Andrew Myerberg, wrote in the report.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here

Henry Tarrio, known to the far-right Proud Boys as “Enrique,” was arrested in January and sentenced to 155 days on Monday.
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