Two Seattle police officers trespassed at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, oversight office finds

An Office of Police Accountability investigation into six Seattle Police officers who attended President Donald Trump's “Stop the Steal” rally found that two officers broke the law and violated police policy when they trespassed outside the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C.

A third officer may have also trespassed, based on a review of maps outlining restricted areas and officer interviews, but the police accountability office could not meet its burden of proof.

Video stills provided by the FBI to the accountability office showed the two Seattle police officers smiling near the building, in a “clearly-prohibited area,” as rioters climbed the walls and scaffolding outside the Capitol, according to the police accountability office. By this point, rioters had surrounded the building.

Some 140 D.C. and Capitol police officers were injured during the siege, the Capitol Police officers’ union said in January. Two officers later died by suicide. Additionally, an insurrectionist was shot and killed by an officer after entering the Capitol building.

“That they were direct witnesses to people defiling the seat of American democracy and assaulting fellow law enforcement officers—and did nothing—makes this all the more egregious,” said OPA Director Andrew Myerberg, in a release announcing the findings.

Myerberg refused to confirm the names of the Seattle officers who attended the rally. However, the two officers found to have trespassed, a married couple named Caitlin Everett and Alexander Everett, were later identified in employment termination reports issued by the Seattle Police Department.

RELATED: Seattle police chief fires two officers for actions at Capitol riots

Both Seattle police officers admitted to trespassing on Jan. 6, but said at the time they were unaware that they were in a restricted area, according to the police accountability report. The Everetts denied seeing illegal actions or violence, and said there were no signs stating they were trespassing.

The police accountability office said that these two officers’ accounts are “simply not credible.” This was based on a review of video footage from Jan. 6 and interviews with law enforcement in Washington, D.C., who said anyone present would have “been aware of the violence and chaos that was ongoing.”

“That (the Office of Police Accountability) did not locate evidence placing (the officers) inside of the Capitol Building does not diminish this conclusion,” the report says.

A disciplinary committee consisting of Myerberg, the officers’ supervisors, and employment counsel recommended that both officers be fired. An employment hearing stemming from the report’s findings is scheduled for Aug. 5. Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz makes the final decision on discipline.

The investigation found that three of the six Seattle officers did not break the law or police policy when they attended Trump’s rally, which preceded the insurrection at the Capitol. Myerberg wrote that the officers’ presence at the rally was Constitutionally protected.

“The question for OPA was whether being at the rally in and of itself violated a policy,” Myerberg said in an interview. “And I think, from our research and our analysis, the answer is no. They have a fundamental First Amendment right to to gather and politically assemble and to express political speech.”

The Office of Police Accountability could not determine if a third employee had trespassed or violated police policy, due to a lack of evidence. However, the oversight office notes it’s possible that this employee trespassed, based on a review of maps outlining restricted zones.

The Office of Police Accountability investigation was launched in January after Seattle Police supervisors were notified that an officer had posted a photo on Facebook which showed her, another officer, and a former Seattle Police employee at the demonstration. Police Chief Diaz requested that the oversight office investigate.

Within two weeks, four other Seattle Police officers reported that they attended the rally, according to the report.

During its investigation, the oversight office requested that all six employees produce receipts, flight and hotel records, text messages, photographs, and bank transaction records from Jan. 6.

The Seattle Police Officers Guild objected to this request, the Office of Police Accountability wrote in a report, and tried to convince Police Chief Diaz to reject the order. Diaz did not comply with the union’s request.

One officer refused to share documentation with the oversight committee, and is now the subject of a new case for insubordination. The Seattle Police Guild filed a grievance against the OPA over the belief that the document request violated the employee’s rights.

This story has been updated to include the identities of the two Seattle police officers found to have trespassed at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.