SEATTLE — A man is accused of stealing and destroying a stack of petitions from a signature gatherer outside a Walmart in Covington, sparking criticism from the political group behind the initiative and raising concerns about law enforcement’s handling of the situation.
“It matters on multiple reasons. It matters to those people who have their signature stolen or ripped up,” said Brian Heywood, founder and sponsor of the political action committee “Let’s Go Washington,” which is behind the petitions.
The group is working to advance two initiatives, including one that would ban transgender girls from participating on girls’ sports teams in K-12 schools.
“What we’re doing is protected by the Constitution, gathering signatures and involving people in the voting process,” Heywood said. “Stealing, defacing, intimidating, harassing, assaulting — those are all things that are clearly not okay in a civil society.”
Heywood said an incident occurred two weeks ago where a signature gatherer with his group was collecting signatures at a table outside the store. A man reportedly approached the table, asked to sign the petition, then ran off with the documents and ripped them up.
What followed has drawn even more concern. According to Heywood, when sheriff’s deputies arrived, they briefly handcuffed the man but allegedly whispered to him that the move was only “for show” and meant for the benefit of the petitioner.
“I’d be really pissed off if I were him,” Heywood said. “I don’t like the performative justice.”
In a statement posted to Facebook, the City of Covington criticized the deputies’ response. City Manager Regan Bolli, speaking by phone, said: “We hold our police officers to an extremely high standard, and sometimes when they dip below that standard, our trust deviates, but they’re human too.”
The King County Sheriff’s Office contracts for Covington Police Department. Their office confirmed it is reviewing the incident and plans to meet with Covington officers to ensure future responses are handled appropriately. While the suspect was not booked into jail, officials said the case has been forwarded to prosecutors.
Meanwhile, Heywood says this is not an isolated incident. According to him, harassment of his group’s signature gatherers has sharply increased.
Last month, a woman was arrested and charged for allegedly tearing up a “Let’s Go Washington” petition in front of a Fred Meyer in Tacoma.
“The violence is about 10 times what we saw just in the first two weeks. It’s about 10 times what we saw in all of last year when we were gathering signatures,” Heywood said.
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