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How an anti-police violence protest ended in a teen’s death
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Will James Joins the Investigation — Years Later
At 5:50 · chapter starts 5:20
Will James picks up the thread: he too was covering protests in 2020 and, like Brownstone, was waiting for the investigation to produce answers. Why had this Black teenager attacked CHOP? Would protesters reckon with what happened? Would police arrest anyone? Instead, the case quietly faded from public consciousness, and both reporters turned their attention elsewhere. The protesters' account was never really challenged. That changed in 2023, when Antonio Mays Sr. filed a lawsuit against the city of Seattle that presented a radically different story: his son hadn't attacked CHOP at all. Antonio Jr. had come to Seattle to join the protest — to be part of the civil rights movement of his generation. Antonio Sr. alleged his son was killed in cold blood by armed vigilantes operating without legal authority, and he demanded accountability.
Three years after his son was killed, Antonio Mays Sr. sued the city of Seattle. His version of events was the opposite of the protesters' narrative: Antonio Jr. had not attacked CHOP — he had come to join the movement. The lawsuit reignited questions reporters had never stopped asking.
Antonio Mays Sr. sued the city of Seattle in 2023, claiming his son was not attacking CHOP but came to join the protest and was killed in cold blood.
