Seattle PD lawyer called redacted video of officer shooting Shaun Fuhr a "good blur"

On April 29, 2020, a Seattle Police Department (SPD) officer fatally shot Shaun Fuhr as he held his daughter. However, at the time, the circumstances and use of force remained unclear to the public because Fuhr and his daughter’s bodies were completely blurred in an SPD produced video of the incident, obscuring what happened.

Text messages from the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) then Executive Director of Legal Affairs, Rebecca Boatright, show her and former Assistant Chief Lesley Cordner’s response to the obscured video calling it a “good blur.” 

Prior to its public release, Cordner and Boatright, exchanged the following text messages which were obtained through a public records request: 

Cordner [5/1/20 6:16pm]: Did u watch newly redacted video?

Boatright [5/1/20 6:16pm]: Yes

Boatright [5/1/20 6:17pm]: Good blur. 

Cordner [5/1/20 6:19pm]: Very good.

One hour later, SPD published the edited video to the SPD Blotter.

In a statement to HardPressed SPD Public Affairs Sgt. Patrick Michaud wrote that he talked with Boatright, and that when she texted “good blur,” she meant “The placement and tracking of the blur over the video met the requirements for public release.”

“At the time Shaun was shot, he was unarmed and cradling his infant daughter in his arms,” a lawsuit stated, filed by Fuhr’s father, following his death.

Fuhr was in fact unarmed at the time police killed him, however multiple people had called 911 at the Rainier Playfield, including the mother of his daughter, who reported that she had a no-contact order in place with Fuhr, that earlier that night taken her and their child against her will to a hotel where he beat her with an iron, threatened to kill her, tried to shoot her on two different occasions, and took their thirteen month old child at Rainier Playfield. Probable cause was established to arrest Fuhr for domestic violence assault and kidnapping, and SPD set up a containment area to find Fuhr after he fled the scene with their child. Officers found him about two blocks away in a side lot between houses. It’s unclear where Fuhr was going or what his intentions were with his daughter.

It was here where Fuhr was killed. 

Almost four years after the incident, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO) declined to file criminal charges against the officer who shot Fuhr. Within the KCPAO’s memo, an unredacted photo was published of the moment SPD officer Noah Zech fatally shot Fuhr in the head. At this moment, Fuhr is seen clearly holding his infant child in his arms as he faced police. Both of Fuhr's hands are visible without any weapons.

SPD’s video editing completely obscured that moment. The department also made other decisions in their publicly released video of the incident, including only showing video from an officer behind the officer who shot Fuhr. Body camera footage from the officer who shot Fuhr would have provided a closer, more detailed picture of Fuhr and the incident to the public.

The SPD’s blotter post of the incident included an image of Fuhr’s handgun which the department wrote was “recovered nearby.” In reality, Fuhr’s gun was recovered a block away from the scene of where he was shot and killed by Seattle police. 

It’s unclear if the SPD’s full and transparent disclosure that Fuhr was unarmed at the time he was shot would have elicited a different chain of events, including further widespread community calls for accountability, or even criminal charges against the officer who shot Fuhr.

The department’s public video redactions completely blurred Fuhr’s entire body, withholding critical information from the public, that Fuhr was unarmed, holding his daughter, when he was shot by police.

In other cases of SPD killings, the department has routinely released body cam footage that redacts solely the face of the victim, not the entire body. However, Washington State Law requires that images “generally offensive to the public,” including images of minors, be redacted and withheld from the public, which would apply in this instance of Fuhr’s daughter in his arms.

The specific editorial decisions made by the SPD in the production of these videos can broadly shape the public narrative of events involving use of force. Five years after Fuhr was killed by the SPD, the department killed another person yesterday and is actively editing and considering redactions for a new video to produce for public consumption. 

According to the department's webpage, “the goal of the SPD body-camera program is to enhance public trust in the Seattle Police Department by providing greater transparency into officer-public interactions,” not explicitly to increase police accountability. 

A lawsuit filed by Fuhr’s father, Jason Fuhr, against the City of Seattle and officer Noah Zech alleging wrongful death, negligence and discrimination was eventually dismissed in U.S. District Court on August 23, 2024.

Washington State Law, RCW 9A.16.040, provides broad justification for police killing, stating that, “when necessarily used by a peace officer meeting the good faith standard to arrest or apprehend a person who the officer reasonably believes has committed, has attempted to commit, is committing, or is attempting to commit a felony,” homicide is justifiable, regardless if the victim is armed or not.

Zech is still employed by the SPD. Seattle’s Office of Police Accountability ruled that he did not violate any SPD policy related to the shooting. 

Former Assistant Chief Cordner was tasked with handling compliance with SPD's federal consent decree, which found the department used excessive unconstitutional force. She retired from the SPD in March 2024.

Boatright remains SPD’s General Counsel and Executive Director of Analytics and Research. She has recently come under increasing scrutiny for other text messages she exchanged with the SPD's federal monitor of the consent decree.

HardPressed reached out to Jason Fuhr’s legal team numerous times via email and telephone since September 2024 and has not received a response. Reached by telephone, Fuhr’s lawyer James Bible told HardPressed he would “see if this is something Mr. Fuhr would like to participate in,” however HardPressed never received a response.