Seattle policeman, in shorts, looking out for evil jaywalkers....
But what happened to Benjamin De Jong and his girlfriend after a Mariners game Sept. 15 is more than a simple case of jaywalking.
"Police brutality is more like it," contends the 22-year-old, who was visiting from British Columbia when he got a lasting memory of Seattle, courtesy of police.
De Jong admits he and his girlfriend jaywalked across First Avenue in Pioneer Square -- just like a throng always does after a sporting event. They were on the heels of friends who forged into traffic just ahead of them that evening, heading to the J&M Cafe.
"As we were 5 to 10 feet from the curb, an unmarked vehicle sped toward us," De Jong said. "He hammered on his brakes. Two guys jumped out wearing dark clothing."
Put yourself in De Jong's shoes. One second you are about to join friends at a pub after going to see a Mariners game. The next, you're terrified about who might be storming out of a strange van just feet away. Thugs? Thieves? A driver with road rage?
Nope. Try cops -- though De Jong insists he and his girlfriend couldn't tell the men were officers. "They never said to us, 'Stop, this is Seattle police,' or that they wanted to talk to us," De Jong said. "You know how cops in movies show badges? Nothing like that happened. I thought they wanted to fight." [From Jaywalkers smarting after rude encounter with cops]
Actually, one of the first things I noticed about Seattle when I visited last summer was that nobody jaywalked. I thought that was really weird, seeing as jaywalking is just how pedestrians walk in Chicago. I eventually starting asking natives, and they all without fail mentioned the Seattle Police Department's War on Jaywalking as a big reason. One cab driver even hinted that the police might rough you up a bit. I couldn't resist jaywalking anyway (seems so wrong to wait at a light when there are no cars coming at all) though I always looked around for cops first.
