On May 1, Seattle police officers arrested motorcyclist Alexander James Randall, better known online as SquidTips, along with a Trans teenager who goes by J, while operating in a traffic safety capacity at the May Day march in downtown Seattle.
The police claim the arrest was for reckless driving, which Randall adamantly denies, asserting that the SPD acted in an antagonistic manner toward him and his friend. Despite the charges later being dropped, the police confiscated his camera and continue to hold it as evidence. Randall is petitioning to reclaim the camera, stating that it contains evidence of police wrongdoing.
However, the Insta 360 video footage of J has recently been obtained, which shows SPD officers making transphobic taunts at her and an officer violently pushing her into a car.
Corking
Randall and J participate in a practice known as corking, in which motorcyclists act as safety liaisons in protests, managing traffic to keep marchers safe. This emerged as a response to right-wing agitators running down protesters in the street, such as the 2017 incident in Charlottesville, VA, in which a white supremacist killed Heather Heyer by running her over while she was participating in a “Unite the Right” counterprotest.
Randall is a prominent member of that community. He has built an online following by operating a YouTube channel on which he discusses safety on the road as a motorcyclist and in activist spaces. As a corker, he works with groups such as Dykes on Bikes and has a dedicated crew of a dozen assistants.
Among those is J, a 13-year-old Transgender girl who accompanied Randall on this year's May Day march. According to Randall, he moved to secure Pike Street and Eighth Avenue and saw an SPD cruiser already at the intersection, but watched a car drive past it toward the march. Seeing this security failure, he positioned his bike between the curb and the police cruiser to block any further car traffic.
While doing this, he saw 15 bicycle cops approaching from the west, before rapidly dismounting and attacking J and arresting Randall.
Footage
Many corkers use GoPros and other mounted recording devices for personal safety, as well as incidents such as these. Recently, Randall published a video on his YouTube channel revealing that J’s camera had been released, and we see some of the footage.
At a certain point, we see two cops making apparently transphobic dog-whistle remarks. The bald cop states, “Well done, boys,” to two women with long hair coming out of their helmets.
Later, we see the bicycle cops approaching Randall and J. As soon as J places her hand on the handlebars of her bike, an officer grabs her and violently pushes her into the grill of an SPD cruiser. The cops try to frame it as though she was resisting arrest and that the officer was acting well within his official capacity.
However, the video paints a different narrative. There was no indication that J was being detained aside from the officer saying “Nope... Stop!” while pushing her and not giving her any time to react. Furthermore, there was no indication that J was trying to escape. From the video, it appears that the bike was only moving because the officer was pushing J forward.
In addition, it is reported that the police did not seatbelt J in the back of the police van. Randall believes that they were planning to give her a “rough ride,” a form of police brutality in which an unsecured prisoner is thrown violently about as the vehicle is driven erratically. This practice is most commonly attributed as the cause of the death of Baltimore resident Freddie Gray.
As of press time, the SPD is still holding onto Randall’s GoPro, and he has made it clear that he will do whatever it takes to recover the footage, believing it will back up his statements and contribute toward building a public pressure campaign against the SPD’s abusive practices.
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