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Man sues SPD, creates website of dashcam videos

A man whose charges were dismissed after he was arrested by Seattle police three years ago has decided that’s not enough to clear the air. He’s suing the department – and making video from their dashboard cameras public. 

According to the Seattle Times, Eric Rachner is accusing the department of “false arrest, malicious prosecution and “spoliation” of video evidence.” He says the police have denied the existence of footage filmed by their dashboard video cameras.

The courts agreed in a public disclosure judgment last year and gave him access to more than three years of the videos.

Rachner is now working on publishing them on a website called SeattlePoliceVideo.com. He owns a computer-security company and was originally arrested for obstruction after withholding his identification from officers. The police suspected him of hitting a bystander with a foam ball during a game of “urban golf” on Capitol Hill.      

On the Web:

Charla joined us in January, 2010 and is excited to be back in Seattle after several years in Washington, DC, where she was a director and producer for NPR. Charla has reported from three continents and several outlets including Marketplace, San Francisco Chronicle and NPR. She has a master of journalism from University of California, Berkeley and a bachelor's degree in architecture from University of Washington.