November 23, 2024
The police in Kirkland, Washington, must not have a lot on the blotter for their officers to do. Sure, it's a pretty big city -- population over 92,000, according to the latest Census Bureau data -- and it's a suburb of Seattle, not necessarily known for being a metropolis in...

The police in Kirkland, Washington, must not have a lot on the blotter for their officers to do.

Sure, it’s a pretty big city — population over 92,000, according to the latest Census Bureau data — and it’s a suburb of Seattle, not necessarily known for being a metropolis in the best of shapes right now when it comes to crime and quality of life.

But the folks in Kirkland apparently are willing to spend an inordinate amount of attention and resources to catch a dangerous criminal, at least from the way they make him or her sound. What’d he do? Knock over a convenience store? Bank heist? Fentanyl sale?

Nope. He or she did a burnout in their SUV on the city’s pride-flag crosswalk.

“Kirkland Police Department (KPD) is asking for the public’s help to identify the individual(s) responsible for damaging the Pride flag crosswalk that was introduced to the community earlier this month at the entrance of Marina Park at Kirkland Avenue and Lakeshore Plaza,” the department said in a media release Wednesday.

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“The incident was captured on surveillance on Tuesday night, June 20, at approximately 11:40 p.m.  The vehicle appears to be a white 2010-2022 model Toyota Sequoia with a distinctive roof rack,” it continued.

“The vehicle was occupied by at least two individuals. KPD is seeking the public’s help in identifying these suspects for the crimes of Reckless Driving and Malicious Mischief.”

Watch the gratuitous anti-LGBT criminality in action:

Should this burnout be treated as a crime?

Yes: 13% (1 Votes)

No: 87% (7 Votes)

Or take a look at it from another angle!

And here’s a tweet that features a picture from a third angle, just in case you really need to make sure that Toyota Sequoia might have some distinctive features you weren’t catching before:

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Now, granted, this is hardly to condone reckless driving or malicious mischief, but one safely assumes this isn’t being put on blast because Kirkland police are worried these guys are leaving tire tracks all over town.

For instance, the “News & Info” portion of the city of Kirkland’s website has no other page asking for information on any other crime during the month of June. Granted, on the same day, the city’s police department Twitter account did note they were assisting in the search for a hit-and-run suspect — which, unless it involved the guys burning some rubber on the pride flag, seems like it might take more precedence. But nope, that didn’t make the page.

I wonder why this might be — or why the city isn’t trying to track down the individuals responsible for defacing Kirkland’s so-called “MAGA Flowers,” which are what they sound like:

According to the official account for this “beloved” garden arrangement, the official Twitter account for the flowers (yes, it has one) said that the charges against at least one set of vandals (check the account and you’ll see there were apparently many) were dismissed and the alleged perpetrators given 25 hours of community service in January of 2022:

I doubt the driver of that Sequoia will get off quite that easily, which didn’t shock Twitter. The waste of resources, on the other hand, led to a bit of a public revolt:

But that’s the point: There’s an official pride crosswalk and you must respect it just like a Catholic would venerate the consecrated bread and wine. Anything less and the eyes of the law will be focused squarely upon you.

Look, you shouldn’t be doing burnouts on pride crosswalks. But, if you’re police, you also shouldn’t be spending your valuable taxpayer-funded time looking for people doing burnouts on pride crosswalks.

What’s this going to lead to? Loudly gunning the engine outside a drag brunch? Speeding past the LGBT organic co-op? Tailgating Subaru drivers?

Get some priorities, Kirkland.

C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he’s written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.

C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he’s written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).

Birthplace

Morristown, New Jersey

Education

Catholic University of America

Languages Spoken

English, Spanish

Topics of Expertise

American Politics, World Politics, Culture