Seattle police release dash cam video of Mayor Ed Murray's house

Seattle Police Department is releasing records and dash camera video after a subpoena alleging that SPD officers and staff were involved in cover-up efforts relating to a man who showed up to the mayor’s home last summer.

KIRO 7 News' Essex Porter is digging into the 9-minute long video for a report on our newscast at 5 p.m. Watch on-air or here. 

About allegations

Attorney Lincoln Beauregard – the lawyer representing a man who filed a sex abuse lawsuit against Mayor Ed Murray – raised questions of what happened on the June 25, 2016 call at Mayor Ed Murray's house. Court documents cite "sources close to the call," saying officer arrived on scene to find a shirtless man in front of the yard of the mayor's home.

Murray's lawyers say there is no connection between that incident and the sex abuse lawsuit. Murray's lawyers said Beauregard violated rules of professional conduct that govern trial publicity and asked the judge to impose sanctions. A King County judge levied a $5,000 fine against Beauregard.

According to The Seattle Times, the mayor released a statement from five people who were guests at Murray's home the evening of June 24, 2016: Lyle Canceko, Joe Loeffler, Adrian Matanza, Roger Nyhus and Maggie Thompson. The five people were having a glass of wine after a Pride Month event.

In the statement they said two people showed up to the house and asked to use the restroom. The people asking to use the restroom “slightly pushy” when refused. A police response was triggered that night after Murray called O’Toole about the incident.

About the police response

“Mayor Murray called Chief [Kathleen] O’Toole on June 24, 2016 and explained that there was an unknown person at his front door,” police said in a written statement. “At around 11:23 p.m., Chief O’Toole called the SPD 911 Center and requested that officers respond to investigate. East Precinct officers were dispatched around 11:24 p.m.”

Shortly before the seven-minute mark of the dashcam video released Monday, police are heard contacting Murray and he says, “They went away.”

An officer responds that they will check around the perimeter. The interaction lasts about 30 seconds, and the dashcam shows a van on the parking strip. The interaction with the mayor was not on camera.

After the brief interaction with Murray -- who is referred to as the complainant, which is standard report language -- other responding units are called off. Later in the audio, one of the officers is heard saying someone got a call from the chief.

“This is not one of those calls we need to be quiet about,” the officer is heard saying. The context of the comment in regards to the call to Chief Kathleen O’Toole was not clarified by the department.

In a written statement, a department spokesman said “O’Toole called the 911 Center again at around 11:27 p.m. and indicated that Mayor Murray had informed her everything was under control, but she wanted officers to continue responding and verify this.”

Seattle police said additional information would be released through the department’s public disclosure unit. KIRO 7 was checking Monday to see the status of a request about the incident, and this story will be updated when additional details are available.

Cox Media Group