Seattle’s Socialist Mayor Katie Wilson, who has in the past decried the tool as making communities feel unsafe and “vulnerable,” is facing fierce backlash on social media after video emerged of a 77-year-old man being beaten by two people, a crime captured on CCTV cameras.
Last month, the elderly man was walking on the streets of downtown Seattle when two passing men stopped, pushed him to the ground and beat him without provocation. Como News Report.
Ahmed Abdullahi Osman, 29, was later arrested and charged with second-degree assault, and police are looking for a second suspect. Osman was reportedly in jail the night of the attack and then released back to the streets ahead of a bail hearing.
“Turning on more cameras won’t magically make our communities safer, but it will certainly make our communities more vulnerable,” Wilson said. explain According to KOMO News , the Seattle City Council approved the expansion of the Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC) CCTV pilot program in 2025, which will be used to capture video of this specific crime.
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Conservatives on social media were quick to point to Wilson’s policies, which have been criticized as being “soft on crime”, and her previous comments on CCTV as a contributing factor.
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“They elected a socialist,” said Mike Gonzalez, senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation Posted on X. “What do they think is going to happen?”
“Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson remains clueless about her job,” reporter Jonathan Choe Posted on X. “So she allowed far-left activists to make public safety decisions for the city.”
Rafael A. Mangual, Manhattan Institute Fellow “Please explain the ‘social roots’ of this heinous crime” Posted on X.
Seattle leaders slam police for order to stop prosecuting drug users
“Ahmed Abdullah Osman defeated a 77-year-old man in Seattle,” conservative influencer account End Wokeness Posted on X in a clip that has been viewed over a million times. “Police identified him through street cameras. Mayor Wilson: ‘CCTV puts refugees at risk.'”
Wilson heightened concerns from local activist groups that CCTV cameras would pose a threat to illegal immigrant communities.
“We are deeply concerned that the expansion of these tools will create an infrastructure that will make it easier for federal agencies to target vulnerable communities, including immigrants and refugees,” the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, the Washington Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Greater Seattle Council of Churches said in a letter last year.
The victim in the incident suffered injuries to his arms, knees and face and spent a week in the hospital, KOMO News reported.
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The Space Needle towers over the Seattle skyline on March 13, 2022, in Seattle, Washington, with Mount Rainier visible in the background.
(Getty Images)
Wilson’s office sent a March press release to Fox News Digital outlining her position on the cameras, saying she would keep the current cameras in place but “pause the expanded pilot” program until “we complete a privacy and data governance audit and take significant steps to strengthen our policies.”
Wilson acknowledged that “there’s no doubt these cameras make it easier to detect some crimes,” including “serious crimes like homicide, but cameras are not the key to keeping our communities safe.”
“I want to acknowledge that this is a controversial issue,” Wilson added. “For some people, seeing CCTV cameras in the neighborhood where they live, work or go to school will make them feel safer. For others, the same cameras will make them feel less safe.”
“These feelings matter because our quality of life depends in part on how safe we feel, or the lack thereof, and on our perception of our city as a welcoming place designed with our well-being and humanity in mind.”
Wilson continued: “But precisely because different people and different communities experience cameras differently, decisions need to be made based on more than just feelings. It is important that our actions are based on a thorough understanding of how cameras are being used, the public benefits they provide and any harm they are causing or may be causing.”
In a press release on Tuesday, the Redmond, Washington, Police Department announced that a second suspect, Jes’Sean Tyrell Elion, was arrested with the help of Seattle police.
However, the release states that Osman is on the run and “is currently wanted on a $200,000 warrant” and “police are actively searching for him.”
Last month, Fox News Digital report City advocates say they are working to find solutions amid growing concerns about the direction of Wilson’s new administration as homelessness and open-air drug use spread on Seattle’s streets.
“You could see the foil blowing down on the sidewalk like fall leaves,” Andrea Suarez, founder and executive director of We Heart Seattle, told Fox News Digital.
“It’s common for our parks and shared spaces to have property damage. You see naloxone being used to reverse overdoses, so you see the cartridges. But at least we’re renovating the bathrooms to make them gender neutral. I’m not [kidding] You, that’s our priority. “
Original source of the article: ‘Incompetent’ socialist mayor in hot water after video of 77-year-old being beaten in downtown Seattle goes viral
