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Seems odd to lead with the misgendering in the headline. I know that's hot-button issue for the Stranger, but the officers' inability to communicate with a deaf person apparently in crisis is the most troubling issue here.

Stated differently, I personally don't really care whether someone calls me sir or ma'am, but I would strongly prefer to avoid getting violently restrained and involuntary committed to in-patient mental health treatment.

Yet another fine example of why we need to defund the police and return the stolen budget to our social welfare programs. It's been repeatedly proven that we would not have a homeless problem if we taxed the wealthiest appropriately, and used those resources on healthcare for all and affordable housing.

@4, Nearly every problem in contemporary American society can be traced back to the Reagan administration. Defunding federal housing programs and deinstitutionalization leading to the homeless boom, the passage of EMTALA leading to ballooning health care costs. All of this ushered along by his pact with the moral majority and their desire to turn this country into a Christian theocracy who are still unraveling our rights to this day. Turns out when you cut off revenue streams and let rich people hoard wealth, the benefits do not in fact trickle down to the masses.

Do you really need this explained to you? How many different options do you think we have?

@7 Reagan defunded mental health care all the way back in 1980.

I know it's popular to blame him for our current problems, but we've had a half-century to come up with solutions. For at least some of that time, Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress and the White House, and could easily have passed corrective legislation. I think it's time for the next generation of politicians to share some blame for this situation.

It’s not so much popular as it is factually correct. All of the problems we fight over today can be traced back to changes introduced by the Reagan administration, even the celebrity himbo politician archetype. It’s hard to imagine a clown like Trump being elected without Reagan laying the groundwork.

You asked one of the stupidest questions I’ve ever encountered online and that’s the answer you’re getting from me. Take it or leave it. I’m not your person google attendant.

How does the federal government extract money from it’s citizens to support itself? If you don’t already know the answer to this question I don’t know what else to tell you except that you are beyond any help I could possibly offer. You can look it up yourself if you’re really this clueless.

What do taxes on the middle class have to do with rich people? This is exactly what I’m talking about. The answer to your question would be obvious to you if you actually took the time to understand what was said in the first place.

There is absolutely nothing surprising about this story to anyone familiar with real life policing. These aren't even "bad apples" they're just apples. The pastor's mistake was thinking they'd actually help her friend.

@17 Absolutely! Elon musk and his fellow oligarchs need to pay at least 98% on every single dime they make after their 50th million of the year. If you look back at when the middle class in America was growing the fastest, and more importantly, when the Black middle class was healthy, we had strong unions, strict anti-trust laws and related government regulation, and very high taxes on the wealthy. That combination forced businesses to reinvest profits in natural growth of the business, and sharing the profits with the workers.

We need to either highly regulate and tax the financial elite, or break out the Guillotines and eliminate to 1% the hard way.

The most concerning part of this story is the inability of multiple police officers to understand that a deaf person can not hear verbal commands, even with a friend trying to remind them of this. Just keep barking commands and getting upset for the "noncompliance." So much for all the training and professionalism the cops claim to have.
@18: if this is intended to be funny, it's not. But it does say a lot about you.

She should have upgraded to a gun. 2nd Amendment and all that. Then she could really sue.

@17- a simple increase on income in the highest brackets would go a long way.

@25, He doesn’t understand how marginal tax rates work.

Ashley your article has a glaring error The Big 5 is not located in White Center it is in Westwood Village shopping center which is in the city of Seattle. White Center is unincorporated King County where the sheriff has jurisdiction not SPD.

If you understood that Reagan’s “trickle down” tax cuts eliminated the top marginal tax tiers then your inane, whiny-ass questions wouldn’t be necessary because all the clues you need are right there in the first comment you replied to. Of course that would require you to understand the rudimentary basics of US tax policy and how Reagan’s cuts fucked over the middle class to give rich people a tax break. Your questions showed that you didn’t understand the assignment.

No one owes you a response, no matter how “polite” you think you are simply because you don’t curse or call people names when you’re trolling. You don’t want an “interesting conversation”, you want to prod and annoy people into giving you attention, and I gave you multiple opportunities to sulk and lick your wounds so that’s a win-win-win-win for you. You’re welcome.

@26, 27 I understand exactly how progressive, marginal tax rates work. The ideal tax rates would be plotted as a logarithmic curve that result in a negative tax rate for everyone below the poverty line that is effectively a guaranteed minimum income that ensures no one is in abject poverty, even those incapable of working. Said rates remain low for the middle class, so that they can save for the future. Once one's income gets to the point that they they can employ a personal staff off of their income, their tax rate should be over 50%, and the top tax rate should guarantee that it is impossible for anyone to become a billionaire. Those who benefit the most from the economy should pay the highest tax rates. Currently most such people pay far lower rates because they can pay accountants to find loses no matter how much they are making as a whole.

@30, raindrop is the “he” who doesn’t understand progressive taxation. Sorry for any confusion.

I don’t care what you think about me, or anything for that matter, and the only reason you asked about the wealth tax specifically is because you thought it was the only option for taxing rich people at higher rates than the middle class, because you don’t understand how marginal tax brackets work.

Dude, everyone to the left of the formerly liberal Republicans that make up the Clinton wing of the party, most Democrats support a wealth tax, and everyone in the progressive wing believe that our tax laws should make it impossible for any American to be worth more that $1Billion. No one person or family should be allowed to hoard so many resources for themselves. America needs more Guillotines and far fewer wealthy people.