WATCH: Rioter Hits Seattle Police Officer In Head with Steel Bat

A rioter hit a Seattle Police Department officer with a steel bat during a riot Wednesday night after a grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky, indicted one police officer but declined to issue indictments directly for the death of Breonna Taylor.

Taylor, 26, was killed in March after her boyfriend fired at police serving a search warrant and police returned fire. The grand jury indicted one officer for wanton endangerment for firing into neighboring apartments, and did not charge two other officers who were involved.

In video footage posted to Twitter, a masked rioter is seen approaching a Seattle Police Department officer from behind, timing his (or her) swing, and then hitting the officer with full force.

The officer’s helmet was cracked, according to a press release by the department, and the officer was injured.

Several other officers were also injured in violent confrontations, as rioters vandalized businesses and attacked police.

 

One officer is under investigation for riding his bicycle over a rioter who lay down in the street to obstruct officers’ progress.

The Seattle Times described “protesters” as “angry and heartbroken.” It reported that some called for a “total abolition of the system.”

On Tuesday, the Seattle City Council overrode Mayor Jenny Durkan’s veto of budget cuts to the police, part of an effort to “defund the police” by 50%.

Riots broke out in dozens of American cities after the grand jury decision was announced. Two police officers in Louisville, Kentucky, were shot.

Breonna Taylor has become one of the iconic names of the Black Lives Matter movement, though there is no evidence that her death was racially motivated.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.