To some residents in the Seattle neighborhood of Magnolia, things seem to be going downhill. They point to a rise in the number of homeless people living in RVs parked on their streets, and along with it, increases in property crime, blight and disorder. So earlier this year, a group of neighbors pitched in to hire a private security service to patrol the neighborhood.
But one Magnolia resident wound up on the wrong side of that public safety strategy. Andrew Harris, a tall, clean-cut, blond guy who works at a Magnolia convenience store, has lived in the neighborhood for most of the last 19 years. But for the last six months or so, Harris has been homeless, living in his car.
He says on March 2, he was asleep in his vehicle, parked in an out-of-the-way spot, when he was awakened by James Toomey, a security officer working for Central Protection Services,on behalf of the Magnolia Patrol Association. Their interaction escalated, and ended with Harris pepper sprayed and in handcuffs. Toomey reported to policethat Harris had tried to grab him, but Harris has a very different story: He reports being sprayed over and over, well after it was obvious that he was no threat.
Central Protection and the Magnolia Patrol Association did not respond to multiple requests for their side of the story. But to Harris, and homeless advocates who back him, it was a case of neighborhood backlash against visible poverty going too far.
