Starting late in the evening of April 5th and into the early morning hours of April 6th, the SPD Communications Center began receiving 911 calls of large groups of people in the streets from 15th Avenue NE to 17th Avenue NE on NE 47th Street. Shortly after midnight officers responded to the area for reports of shots fired. Officers arrived and discovered that there was a power outage in the neighborhood and could hear numerous fireworks being set off. Officers then discovered a large bonfire on 17th Avenue NE on the south side of NE 47th Street accompanied by a very large crowd with numerous on-lookers. Additional officers responded to the scene, including units from the UWPD. SFD responded and staged nearby.
Officers deployed on foot on at least two sides of the crowd and the dispersal order was given. After additional orders to disperse were ignored officers began to move the crowd away from the fire. Once the crowd was away from the fire, SFD was called in to extinguish the fire. One officer was struck on the chest and another officer struck on the helmet with bottles and/or beer cans. Neither officer was injured in the attacks.
Additional dispersal orders were given and some of the crowd began to dissipate at this time. A large contingent of officers then began slowly moving toward the crowd, dispersing them. There was no further defiance or resistance and no physical force was used to disperse the crowd. There were no injuries, no arrests, and no property damage discovered other than the items used to start the fire.