On August 9, a shirtless white guy stood outside Westlake Mall in downtown Seattle spitting on people, uttering racial epithets, and trying to pick fight with pedestrians and bystanders. So a private security guard yanked out his pepper spray and maced a black pedestrian.
The Stranger reports the Seattle City Attorney has declined to file assault charges against the security guard. They apparently concluded the security guard acted in self-defense. That is, after they interviewed the security guard, and didn’t interview the victim. Which, to me, sounds like a strange way to conduct an investigation.
The black guy’s attorney points out there were financial risks for the city in trying to prosecute the security guard. The cit would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did not act in self-defense, and would have to pay his legal costs if he wasn’t convicted.
So, the city’s reluctance to file criminal charges against a mall cop who maced the wrong person is somewhat understandable. After all, the crime of assault includes an element of intent, and mere stupidity is not criminal per se.
As this case makes clear, the criminal justice system just isn’t very good at dealing with bully cops and head-up-ass (or worse) mall guards. The threshold for conviction is just too high. (Apparently the probable cause threshold for indictment is too high for some grand juries, too.)
Laws against murder and assault are designed for civilians who push their wives off cliffs to collect insurance money or drunken football fans who jump strangers in stadium parking lots because they’re wearing the other team’s t-shirt. Prosecutors don’t know how to cope with rogue cops who kill people with banned chokeholds or blow away kids with toy guns after sizing up the situation for all of 1.5 seconds. That looks more like a supervision issue than a premeditated criminal act. And, anyway, the hapless victims or their survivors can always sue.
It must be comforting to know that if an emotionally unstable cop who was fired by a police department across town because he’s 
unsuited for police work yanks out his gun and splatters your kid, you’re going to get a couple million dollars from the taxpayers.
Who’s the bad guy in this picture? The belligerent white guy spitting on people, uttering racial epithets, and menacing the security guard? Or the black pedestrian just standing there? You get three bonus points if you correctly guess who the superhero mall cop maces in the next frame. Photos copied from 
The Stranger under fair use.