SEATTLE — The Washington state Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a person's race, and law enforcement's long history of discrimination against people of color, should be taken into account when determining the legality of police seizures.
The court also clarified state law to say that police has seized a person if an objective observer — who is aware that discrimination and biases "have resulted in disproportionate police contacts, investigative seizures, and uses of force against Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color" — would conclude that the person was not free to leave or refuse a request.
"Today, we formally recognize what has always been true: In interactions with law enforcement, race and ethnicity matter," Justice Mary Yu wrote for the unanimous court. "Therefore, courts must consider the race and ethnicity of the allegedly seized person as part of the totality of the circumstances when deciding whether there was a seizure."
