Accused arsonist threw fireworks into Seattle Starbucks during protest, WA cops say
An Olympia man is facing an arson charge in King County after he allegedly threw fireworksinto a Seattle Starbucks during a recent protest, a probable cause affidavit states.
Jonathan Dugger, 20, allegedly participated in a demonstration on Oct. 3 at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill, the document states. Sixteen protesters were arrested at the demonstration after some people shattered the Starbucks building’s windows and threw “what appeared to be fireworks into the store,” the Seattle Times reported.
About 150 people participated in the protest, according to a probable cause affidavit from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
“During the past four months, the area of Cal Anderson Park has been the center of civil disorder in the City of Seattle, Washington on an almost daily basis,” Seattle police officer Stephen Knapp wrote in the probable cause affidavit.
People allegedly threw at least two “commercial grade pyro-technic devices” into the Starbucks, the document states. Several videos of the incident surfaced online, according to the affidavit.
One person was seen on video throwing an explosive device — or fireworks — through a broken window of the Starbucks. Detectives have not verified the identity of that person, according to the affidavit.
After reviewing several videos, detectives also saw a second person, later identified as Dugger, carrying “an object with an actively lit fuse, apparent from its stream of showering sparks.” Dugger is accused of throwing it inside the store, which caused an “explosion [that] resulted in a showering of multicolored sparks, a loud bang and a large amount of smoke,” the affidavit said.
The explosion caused a fire inside the coffee shop, according to the document.
Arson suspect arrested
The following day, another “protest event/march” took place in Seattle. Detectives saw Dugger wearing the same clothes he was seen in at the Starbucks on Capitol Hill, according to the affidavit.
Detectives said they saw Dugger get into a car and leave the Oct. 4 protest and they asked patrol officers to stop the car in order to identify him.
The patrol officers found there was an outstanding warrant for Dugger’s arrest during their traffic stop and he was taken into custody.
After reviewing another video of the incident at the Starbucks on Oct. 3, detectives noticed the perpetrator had tattoos matching Dugger’s. He was then arrested in connection with the incident.
A judge set Dugger’s bail at $75,000 and “found probable cause for second-degree arson,” Casey McNerthney, a spokeswoman for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said.
Four months of protests
Protests against in Seattle have been going on since George Floyd, who is Black, died in police custody in Minneapolis in May. In the four months since Floyd’s death, interactions in Seattle “between police and protesters have escalated,” KUOW reported.
Floyd, 46, died after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for about eight minutes. Chauvin and three other officers at the scene have been charged in Floyd’s death.
Demonstrations against police brutality and social injustices after Floyd’s death, which have spread from Minneapolis to across the nation, have included clashes between protesters and police, thefts, fires and other unrest. The violence and thefts involve much smaller groups at mostly peaceful gatherings, authorities say.
The vast majority of the protesters across the nation have been “peaceful demonstrators calling for change,” law enforcement officials told ABC News.
In Seattle some protests have resulted in violence and property damage, but others have remained peaceful, KING reported.
This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Accused arsonist threw fireworks into Seattle Starbucks during protest, WA cops say."