Update: 5:10 p.m. Aug. 13
Two Seattle police officers who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington, D.C., have lost their jobs.
Police Chief Adrian Diaz announced the firings of Caitlin Everett and Alexander Everett on Friday. Last month, Seattle’s Office of Police Accountability recommended that dismissal.
The Everetts, who are married, were fired because “they crossed the outdoor barriers established by the Capitol Police?and were directly next to the Capitol Building,” Diaz said in a statement.
FBI video evidence showed them next to the Capitol as people around them scaled walls and broke in during a session of Congress that was confirming the presidential election results.
In last month’s Office of Police Accountability report, the officers said they stayed on grass 30 to 50 yards away from the Capitol building and never saw any signs of a disturbance.
“It is beyond absurd to suggest that they did not know they were in an area where they should not be, amidst what was already a violent, criminal riot," Diaz said.
Diaz called the two officers’ participation a “stain on our department.”
“More than a hundred officers sustained serious injuries – some career-ending – through outright assault,” he said. “Hundreds more, across all agencies called to respond, bear the physical and emotional scars of that day.”
Earlier this week, a police officer who defended the Capitol took his life; three others also have died by suicide.
It’s not known if Caitlin and Alexander Everett are under criminal investigation by federal authorities for their actions.
The Everetts were among six Seattle officers in the nation’s capital for President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally. Four of them still have their jobs.
More police from Seattle attended the Jan. 6 protest than from any other department.
The couple's trip became public after Caitlin Everett posted a photo on Facebook of her and Alexander Everett at the demonstration. Four other officers later admitted they were also there but said they were not involved in the riot.
Friday marked the first time that the Everetts have been named. The police department has not named the other four officers.
The Washington Supreme Court announced Thursday that it would hear a lawsuit filed by the officers against people who filed public records requests seeking to disclose their identities.
ABOUT THE COUPLE
The Everetts came to Seattle after working with police departments in Texas.
They worked together at the Dallas Police Department as patrol officers before they were married, according to police reports released through a public records request.
Alexander Everett graduated from the University of North Texas in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and worked in Dallas for four years before taking a job as an officer in Round Rock, Texas.
Caitlin Everett worked for the Dallas police for four years under her maiden name, Caitlin Rochelle, the records said.
Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police union that represents officers, did not immediately return a telephone message from The Associated Press seeking comment about the decision to fire them.
It was not immediately known if the Everetts have a lawyer. The attorneys representing them and the four other Seattle officers in the public records case withdrew from the case after the accountability office investigation was completed last month.
Associated Press writer Jake Bleiberg in Dallas contributed to this report.
Aug. 13 update: The Associated Press erroneously reported Alexander Everett had also worked for the U.S. Air Marshals. Everett was never a U.S. Air Marshal.
