WEBVTT - 8: The Hero We Deserve 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:16.960 Novel. On January six of two thousand and twenty, at 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:21.079 four pm, Ben Photor got a text message from a 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:26.119 number he didn't recognize. It was a single word. Ben 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:30.560 replied with two question marks, and the stranger responded with 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:33.800 a confusing series of messages about the weather and a 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:37.239 pair of missing glasses, until they seemed to realize that 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:42.280 they were texting the wrong person. Wait, ship is this Tommy? 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:48.360 And then things got strange. Instead of the conversation ending, 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:51.919 Ben asked the stranger what they were doing later that night, 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:57.279 and the stranger typed getting high and watching Netflix. How 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:01.080 about you, to which Ben replied, nice, We're going to 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:03.960 get high and go to the arcade I want to join. 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:08.920 They continued chatting until late at night. The stranger eventually 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:12.759 told Ben that her name was Laura. Ben told Laura 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:16.200 that he and his girlfriend were polyamorous and suggested that 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:18.720 they all meet up, and he sent Laura a photo 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:23.240 of him and his girlfriend. Laura replied, don't get me wrong, 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:26.200 you are both hot. A yes, but I'm trying to 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:29.920 make good decisions. But they kept texting over the next 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:33.240 few days, and eventually Laura agreed to meet up with 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:36.679 Ben and his girlfriend Andrea at the Silver Cloud Hotel 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:41.840 near downtown Seattle. Laura told Ben a few of her 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:45.280 friends were in town visiting from Los Angeles. She'd been 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:47.760 planning to pick up drugs for them, but her dealer 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:51.440 stood her up. Ben offered to bring some to the hotel. 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:57.480 That would make it even easier for pre party, Laura replied. Then, 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:03.120 on January nine, at five fifty pm, Ben texted, Hey, 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:05.160 so I was not able to get m but I 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:08.079 can get you c at eight U G or a 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:13.680 ball for two. Laura replied, that's cool. We have money 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:17.000 for a ball, meaning an eight ball or around three 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:24.920 point five grams of cocaine. Four hours later, a Seattle 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:28.000 Police Department detective held a meeting with members of her 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:32.000 department along with some agents from the Homeland Security Investigation Unit. 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:37.399 They were preparing for a narcotic takedown operation. At ten 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:42.080 fIF pm, officers observed Ben Fodor and his girlfriend Andrea 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:45.440 Bernstin parking orange smart car in front of the hotel 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:50.720 and make their way into the lobby. According to court documents, 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:53.960 Photor had a shiny gold backpack and was carrying a 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:58.320 blue tackle box. Andrea exited the South Lobby door to 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.760 smoke a cigarette at the point, the police moved in 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:07.480 and arrested Ben and Andrea. Back at the precinct, the 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:11.880 officers searched Ben and Andrea's belongings. Inside the tackle box, 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:16.080 they found seven separate bundles of suspected cocaine, weighing a 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:20.840 total of four grams. They also found a scale covered 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:24.200 in what looked like drug residue and another unknown white 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:29.720 powder substance weighing thirty one seven grams. Also inside the 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:35.640 tackle box were two passports belonging to Ben and Andrea. 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:39.360 There was, of course no Laura. It was a made 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:45.200 up name by an undercover cop. This whole sting operation 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:48.160 seems like a lot of work, and it appeared to 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:52.560 be a shift in Phoenix's relationship with the police. This 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:55.480 time they seemed to be taking the initiative to come 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:58.960 after him, unlike in the past where they were reacting 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:03.480 to his actions. According to Phoenix, he was under attack. 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:09.880 In January of Phoenix was charged with two counts violation 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:14.000 of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, and in March he 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:18.719 pled guilty to the lesser charges of conspiracy. The self 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:22.200 proclaimed Guardian of Seattle was no longer standing his ground 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:27.360 against arm crack dealers. He was himself a convicted drug dealer. 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:30.880 The world would never see him the same way again. 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:36.800 I'm David Weinberg and from the Team's at Novel and 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:39.720 I Heart Radio. This is the final installment of The 0:04:39.760 --> 0:05:04.200 Superhero Complex, Episode eight, The Hero We Deserve. When Phoenix 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.320 got busted, the rain City superhero movement was a distant 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:10.880 memory to most people in Seattle. They're fifteen minutes of 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.719 fame had long been up. And then came the news 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:18.400 of Phoenix's arrest for selling drugs to undercover cops. Phoenix 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:22.239 was back in the spotlight. How have you dealt with 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.919 the public perception of he was drug dealer? It's been terrible. 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:28.320 Some of the worst times of my entire life walked 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:31.920 me through. Like how you've dealt with it? I mean, 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:34.000 it's been really crazy, man, It's been really bad. So, 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:37.680 like after the indictment, everyone just turned their backs on 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:39.679 me and said that I was doing all this crazy stuff. 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:41.520 I had people spit on me on the streets. I 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:43.520 went to a weird little suicidal phase for a second 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:45.600 where I was feeling like I should just end everything, 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.120 and and then I came to the same conclusion how 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:52.960 he's come to you know, fuck you guys. If you 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.200 read the transcript of the text exchanges between the undercover 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:58.919 cop and Phoenix, he does not come across as a 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.720 drug dealer. He seems more like a guy who thinks 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:03.880 he's about to have a threesome and is only bringing 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:06.840 some drugs to the party as a favor. He does 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.920 mention drugs, but it's the undercover officer who brings them 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:13.919 up first. My takeaway from looking at the evidence provided 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.760 by the Seattle Police Department is that in this instance 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:20.000 with Laura, Phoenix looks a lot more like a middleman 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:22.200 and a drug deal than some kind of big time 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:26.120 dealer himself. But there's more to the story, because this 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:29.120 wasn't the first time Phoenix had been caught selling drugs 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:35.920 to cops. On November five, two months before his arrest, 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:39.080 the Silver Cloud Hotel, Phoenix got a text from Mike. 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:44.240 Mike was actually to uncovered police officers. According to court documents, 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:47.359 Mike and Phoenix texted back and forth for a few days, 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:51.720 and on November Mike texted Phoenix asking to buy some 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:56.400 M d M A. The cops say Phoenix asked for 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.680 payment upfront and sent them his Venmo, which had a 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.640 photo of him in profile. Also a fun fact I 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:06.360 learned from reading the court documents, Phoenix's Venmo user name 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:11.560 was Booty sweat Baby. Anyway, Mike and Phoenix agree to 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.840 meet at a Starbucks and the Wells Fargo building downtown 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:19.280 around noon. The next day, a team of officers met 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:22.680 for a briefing. Officer Amy Brownham was running the bust 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:27.840 and she showed everyone a picture of Phoenix. An officer 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:30.720 of pretending to be Mike, along with four other undercover 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:34.200 officers in plain clothes were stationed inside the coffee shop. 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:39.800 Officer Brownham was also there watching from outside. At one pm, 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.120 Phoenix rolled up dressed in a green tank top and jeans, 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:47.360 carrying a brown paper bag. The whole exchange took less 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:51.920 than a minute. Here's a condensed version of the police report. 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:56.440 Phoenix is referred to by his last name Photor. Photoor 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.040 and the undercover agent made eye contact with each other, 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:02.160 and the undercover agent gave him a head nod. Photoor 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.160 walked towards the undercover agent. They shook hands, and the 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.000 undercover agent asked photo Or if he was bent. He 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:12.880 replied yes, the undercover agent handed photo Or two d dollars, 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:15.720 and photo Or accepted the money. He placed the brown 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:17.800 paper bag that he was carrying on the table in 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:20.880 front of the undercover agent. Photor stated that it was 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:24.160 all there and packaged into separate baggies. He told the 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:26.360 undercover agent he could check it if you wanted to. 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:30.760 The undercover agent declined and told Photoor that he trusted him. 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:33.240 The undercover agent asked photo Or if he could hit 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:36.120 him up next week if he needed more. Photoor said 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:40.040 he could. Photo Or exited the Starbucks and jogged northbound. 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:45.000 The version of events laid out in the police report 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:48.440 is a pretty straightforward drug deal, But according to Phoenix, 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.280 the media weren't interested in his side of the story. 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:55.520 I got indicted, and people would not take my interview 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:58.480 to talk to them about my indictment. They didn't want 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:01.280 to go into the gritty of what happened. They wanted 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:04.600 to just basically slander my name, and they wrote all 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:06.880 these articles that were inaccurate. They wanted to go with 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:08.480 the falling hero line, and that's what they wanted to 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:10.920 go with. So if the story the rest of the 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:13.880 world heard is all wrong, what is the real story. 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:18.480 I think, UM, not holding my friends and people I 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:21.560 hang out with to the same standards of accountability that 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:24.679 I would hold myself to makes me guilty by association. 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:29.440 In both the hotel and the Starbucks drug busts, Phoenix 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:34.000 claims he was only facilitating other people's deals. He's basically 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:37.079 saying he was nothing but a middleman. In the M 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:39.880 d M A bust at the coffee shop, Phoenix says 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:43.320 his friend was the dealer, not him, but Mike. The 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:47.160 undercover cop told this friend he'd only accept the drugs 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:51.520 from Phoenix, So Phoenix agreed to deliver the drugs, and 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:53.400 then he says, here's a hundred dollar tip for being here. 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.400 Gave me a tip. I was like sweet, took that 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:59.600 money and then handed him the bag and I left like, dude, 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.400 I know what in the bag though, for sure? For sure? 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:06.880 So am I still guilty? Definitely? But the person you texted, 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:08.720 the person who showed up, the person who brought the drugs, 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:10.640 the person who bought the drugs, all of that wasn't me. 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:14.000 And as for the hotel bust, Phoenix says he was 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:18.120 only near the drugs, not using or selling them. I 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.120 wasn't on drugs. The Daily arrested us. I had no 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:22.720 drugs in my system. They checked my fingerprints. My fingerprints 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.960 were not anywhere on the drug paraphernalia. The drug parapetet 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:28.679 he wasn't found on me or near me. But did 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:32.840 I know they had it for sure? Just facts like yep, 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:38.080 and that's a crime, which it is. Conspiracy. Now there's 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:40.400 a lot to unpack here, but let's start with the 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:44.559 Starbucks bust. I have a very hard time believing Phoenix's 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:48.319 version of the story. Here's why. Phoenix is a guy 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:51.360 who believes that the Seattle police are out to get him. 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:53.600 He knows he has to be perfect and everything he 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.079 does because he thinks the police are chomping at the 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:59.600 bit to arrest him. And then this drug dealer friend 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:02.320 of his comes along and says, Hey, I'm about to 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:05.280 sell some drugs to this random guy to Starbucks. But 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:07.920 for some reason, he says he will only accept the 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:12.760 drugs if you deliver them, and Phoenix says, sure, no problem, 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:17.000 I'm happy to help. This all seems totally normal. For 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:19.280 Phoenix to agree to that, he would have to be 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:23.840 incredibly stupid, and Phoenix maybe many things, but stupid he 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:28.800 is not. Also, who tips a drug dealer a hundred dollars? Now, 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:31.319 as for the hotel bust, that one is a lot 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.640 more complicated. Again, Phoenix makes the claim that he was 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:37.960 merely the middleman, and I do think that the text 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:41.320 exchange seems like he isn't some drug kingpin. But if 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:43.960 he didn't have anything to do with supplying the cocaine, 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:47.640 why were his and his girlfriend's passports inside the tackle 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:50.840 box with the drugs. I still can't make sense of 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:54.920 that detail. And on the other hand, if the cops 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:57.880 had such a clear cut case against him, why did 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:01.000 Phoenix get off so easy? It seems odd to me 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.000 that the police would put so much money in manpower 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.160 into a sting operation to ultimately let him off with 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:11.040 a slap on the wrist. Maybe it's proof of Phoenix's 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:14.400 theory that their goal was simply to ruin his reputation 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:18.679 by making his arrest public. Or maybe Phoenix's lawyer just 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:22.000 did what lawyers do and got the charges reduced. Or 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:25.000 maybe Phoenix snitched on his supplier in exchange for a 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:29.480 lesser charge. Those all seem like plausible theories. What we 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:31.719 do know for sure is that when the charges were 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:35.800 first brought in January. There was account of cocaine possession 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:39.920 with intent to distribute and one of feloniously delivering M 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:44.880 d m A, but on March they were dropped to 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:49.520 conspiracy charges. And a conspiracy charge basically means that two 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:52.920 or more people agree to commit a crime at some 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:57.600 point in the future. I was with people who had drugs. 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:01.080 I was aware that there were definitely drugs involved, and 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:03.360 you know, as far as a conspiracy goes, it's just 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.520 knowing that someone was trying to do something illegal and 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.160 not stopping them. And I'm definitely guilty of that. So, 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:10.959 I mean, I believe in America, I believe the Constitution. 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:13.160 I'm gonna plead guilty because I'm gilty of that. But 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:17.880 it's disingenuous the way that it was said. And Phoenix 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:21.360 did plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:26.160 violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, one for the 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:28.199 M d M A bust and one for the cocaine. 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:32.200 He was sentenced to four days in jail, time served, 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:36.679 and find five dollars plus an additional one for the 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:41.680 DNA test. I feel like that detail gets lost in 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:44.840 the media narrative, like no one cares what the charges. 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:47.080 It's like, oh, you're a drug dealer, right, but they're 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:49.560 not accusing me of being a drug delar right. But 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:51.679 like what I'm saying is like, I know that's the 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:53.200 stories that I'm a drugular, but that's not what he 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:55.760 was accusing me of. How many days did you serve 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.920 in jail? Zero? They said they wouldn't delete my charge, 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:01.320 but if I pledged, which I had already done, they 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:03.320 would give me zero days in jail, and in four 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:06.120 years they'll delete my felony. But they just want me 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:08.559 to be guilty. Does that make sense? Like if I'm 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:11.360 a danger to society, why would you release me the 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.079 day that you I say that I'm guilty with no 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:18.200 release conditions, there's literally nothing, but they wanted to give 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:24.560 me like a felony tag. Phoenix claims that the Seattle 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:28.200 Police deviated from their own policies and an effort to 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:32.000 bring him down. So is what happened to Phoenix unusual 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:35.080 for Seattle? We should probably start by saying that the 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:38.280 Seattle Police Department is under a federal consent decree for 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:42.520 their history of biased policing. This is Rich Smith a 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:46.880 journalist at the Stranger local paper in Seattle. The Seattle 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:52.320 Police Department is a moribund institution that's overfunded. They'd spent 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:54.400 a lot more of their time responding to non violent 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:59.840 crimes than violent crimes. Lots of investment and new training strategy, 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.360 his new ways to get him to stop arresting black 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.320 and brown people at higher rates than white people for 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.640 the same crimes. There hasn't been a ton of progress 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:12.960 on that bias. That's the reputation of the Seattle Police Department. 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.800 The two main people in charge of prosecutions in Seattle 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:20.359 at the time of Phoenix's arrest were King County prosecuting 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:25.280 Attorney Dan Saderberg and Phoenix's old arch nemesis, former Seattle 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:30.800 City Attorney Pete Holmes. Pete Holmes's progressive era as a prosecutor. 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:33.600 He came in swinging a big bat and just stopped 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:37.840 prosecuting a lot of marijuana arrests. Pete Holmes covered misdemeanors 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:41.440 and Dan Saderberg was in charge of felonies. When Phoenix 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:43.520 talked to me, he directed a lot of his anger 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:46.720 at Pete Holmes, but it was actually Saderberg who was 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:50.640 in charge of his case. He first started making reforms 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:52.760 in the office related to drugs when he came on 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:56.920 in two thousand eight, where he reduced filing standards for 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:02.560 people who are caught simply possessing a certain amount of drugs. 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:06.440 So both prosecutors are viewed as being relatively liberal on drugs. 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:09.400 But the Seattle Police do have a track record of 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:13.680 questionable sting operations. Pete Holmes and the SPD came under 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:17.640 fire for sting operations they executed in massage parlors in 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:21.880 an effort to catch people paying sex workers. Those things were, 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:26.560 at least among public defenders, considered pretty wasteful uses of 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:30.520 city resources and pretty unsuccessful. A lot of the guys 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.520 ended up getting off because of shoddy police work. They 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:38.040 were pretty incompetently run. Examples like this lend credibility to 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:42.720 Phoenix's claims that the Seattle Police unnecessarily spent massive amounts 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:46.640 of public money on his relatively small crime. If they're 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:49.680 accusing him of being some kind of kingpin, then you know, 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:54.280 maybe some kind of sting operation would make sense like that. 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.400 But when I put it past the Seattle Police Department, 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:01.720 not at all. Putting too many recent sources into a 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:06.440 dubious sounding Let's say a case like this would cops 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:11.480 lie or waste a bunch of time and resources going 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:15.200 after a group or a person who was a thorn 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.000 in their side. I would not be surprised in the least. 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:25.560 Pete Holmes declined an interview, and Dan Saderberg didn't respond 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:29.520 to interview requests. The SPD also declined to put up 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:32.439 a spokesperson, and the undercover officers we reached out to 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:36.119 and former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best all declined to 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:39.760 comment as well. We put all of Phoenix's allegations to 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.720 the SPD in writing and asked them about why so 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.240 much time and money was spent on an investigation that 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:50.240 ultimately resulted in two minor drug charges, six hundred dollars 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:53.800 in fines, and four days in jail. The Seattle Police 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:59.880 Communications Department responded that narcotics investigations routinely involved multiple officers 0:17:59.880 --> 0:18:04.160 and detectives, both for investigative and safety reasons, and are 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:07.720 conducted over months and even years. In some cases, our 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:12.240 department arrested Mr Phodor for crimes he committed. Regardless of 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:14.600 what is true either, The Phoenix is a small time 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:17.600 coke and ecstasy dealer, or he simply has a soft 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:20.040 spot for helping out his drug dealer friends and as 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:22.720 the victim of an over zealous police force at the 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:24.560 end of the day, he got off with a very 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:27.640 light punishment, and he knew very well the risks he 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:29.840 was taking when he agreed to get involved in the 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.200 legal drugs, So I don't have a lot of sympathy 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:35.240 for him. Everybody hates me already. I got split on 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:36.840 the street yesterday. Someone call me the drug dealers, but 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:38.840 I'm on the street to day in regular ass life. 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:41.480 Because you think I sold drugs for real, what I didn't. 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:44.520 And I don't care what you fucking think. Like people 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:47.280 don't like me. They've never liked me, that's not new. 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:50.360 But we're gonna talk about me showing up with literally 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:52.919 three point four grams of cocaine in a bag I 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:55.880 am not touching, while completely sober at a hotel trying 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:59.520 to meet a consenting adult to go play pinball. I mean, 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:06.080 go fund yourself. When Phoenix landed in trouble with the police, 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:08.600 he really wasn't in the superhero game much at all, 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:11.600 and now that most people in the city were convinced 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:14.480 that he was nothing but a drug dealing hypocrite. It 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:16.679 was starting to look like this was the end for 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:22.600 Seattle's most famous costumed crime fighter. But the year brought 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:27.520 unprecedented changes to the entire world, and in the midst 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:30.280 of a global pandemic and a wave of social unrest 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:33.400 in the streets, Phoenix would get his chance to rise 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:36.560 from the ashes and down his mask one more time. 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:57.600 That's coming up. By May of Phoenix Jones had basically 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:01.560 retired from being a superhero. No more shaky body cam videos, 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:03.840 no more railing against the police like he had in 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:07.880 the past. It looked as though Seattle police had finally 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:10.720 convinced Phoenix to hang up his super suit and leave 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:15.840 the crime fighting to the professionals. And then the world exploded. 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:23.719 Waves of peaceful protesters marched on bigger than ever before, 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:29.119 from Washington's newly named Black Drives Matter Plazia to Philadelphia, 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:32.760 turning violent in Portland, Oregon, Broo police clashed with protests 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:37.560 jes the world had spent months being locked down, and 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:41.240 then people in cities all across America and beyond erupted 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:44.719 in protests and clashes with police. After a white police 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:49.360 officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, a black man, in Minneapolis. 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:54.760 Rioters have taken over the shopping district in downtown Seattle. 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:58.560 They've set fire to multiple police vehicles. They have broken 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:02.080 into multiple businesses, including Nordstrom and Old Navy, and are 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:06.200 starting to loot. On May, four days after Floyd's death, 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:09.400 protesters marched through Seattle and gathered at hing Hay Park 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:16.240 in Seattle's International District to protest police brutality. Protesters laid 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:20.760 down the roads, chanting George Floyd's name. The windows of 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:25.040 a Ferrari dealership were smashed in, and some demonstrators curled fireworks. 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:29.679 By May, the police were launching flash bangs, tear gas, 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:35.760 and pepper spray at the crowds. Mayor Jenny Durkin and 0:21:35.880 --> 0:21:39.320 stated a five pm to five am curfew. This is 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:42.879 a statewide emergency alert. The City of Seattle is asking 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:50.640 all residents to immediately disperse from downtown and then on mate. 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:57.280 Phoenix Jones resurfaced in his first tweet in over six months. 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.280 He posted in all caps the following message, if you're 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:04.760 in downtown Seattle and have been injured, need medical assistance, 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:08.400 or help evacuating. Tweet me see you in the streets. 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:12.040 Perhaps inevitably someone replies that they need help getting some 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:15.359 m d M A. But although Phoenix's reputation had taken 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:18.040 a dent, it seemed like he was serious about his comeback. 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:20.120 This is Phoenix Jones. I wanted to make a couple 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:22.520 of things straight before I start at the child today. 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:25.520 Later that day, Phoenix live streamed from a car decked 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:27.760 out in his super suit, though he changed up his 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:30.720 look a bit. Instead of his rubber batman style mask, 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:33.320 he had on a helmet. He announced that he was 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:36.240 heading into the fray. It was a full blown relaunch. 0:22:36.520 --> 0:22:38.119 If you're injured and you need my help, give me 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:39.760 a call, hit me off on Twitter. I'll come help you. 0:22:39.880 --> 0:22:41.639 Your buildings on fire, you've got something going on like 0:22:41.680 --> 0:22:42.840 that and you need help and you have it called 0:22:42.920 --> 0:22:44.760 nine one one already give me plus I'll come put 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:47.280 out that fire. He posts more videos that day. In 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:50.920 the next Guys, Jones make sybody stay safe through medical attention, 0:22:51.119 --> 0:22:54.439 keeping everybody good. He live streams himself striding down the 0:22:54.480 --> 0:22:58.200 streets of Seattle carrying a fire extinguisher, and he claims 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:00.600 he stopped to break it. I thought some people breaking 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:03.399 into a bartheuse, so I stopped breaking into the bartel 0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:05.480 as much as I could. Otherwise, you know, the vandalism 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:15.560 will just continue. Phoenix is back. Meanwhile, the protests are escalating. 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:21.560 By June six, the police are firing blast balls into 0:23:21.600 --> 0:23:26.080 crowds of demonstrators. On June seven, a man drives a 0:23:26.080 --> 0:23:30.440 car into protests at Capitol Hill and shoots a protester 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:34.440 in the arm. The Seattle police use so much tear 0:23:34.480 --> 0:23:38.159 gas against protesters that people in the neighborhood say it's 0:23:38.160 --> 0:23:44.240 seeping into their homes, and then comes June eight. We 0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:49.960 have to stand together and be one family pool. The 0:23:50.080 --> 0:23:54.320 birth of the Chop or chas, the push to defund 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:57.359 and reform the Seattle Police Department, and the Black Lives 0:23:57.400 --> 0:24:01.040 Matter movement is how six city blocks have been transformed 0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:05.560 now called Chop. Officers retreated from the area to de 0:24:05.920 --> 0:24:10.159 escalate the tension, effectively abandoning their station. Protesters say they 0:24:10.160 --> 0:24:12.760 won't be intimidated by threats and say they planned to 0:24:12.760 --> 0:24:16.520 stay as long as it takes to bring about change. 0:24:17.400 --> 0:24:19.840 It started when the police boarded up the East Precinct 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:23.879 and vacated the property following clashes with protesters, so the 0:24:23.880 --> 0:24:28.359 protesters rearranged the barricades and established a six block area 0:24:28.560 --> 0:24:31.919 that included cal Anderson Park, a seven acre green space, 0:24:31.920 --> 0:24:36.040 and Capitol Hill. Protesters pitched tents and dugout community gardens 0:24:36.040 --> 0:24:39.920 in the park. They called it the CHOP, an acronym 0:24:40.200 --> 0:24:44.840 that stands for Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, though some prefer 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:49.399 the name CHAZ Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, and depending on 0:24:49.440 --> 0:24:52.520 which news outlets you believe, the CHAS was either a 0:24:52.600 --> 0:24:56.000 giant block party and safe space for protesters and community 0:24:56.000 --> 0:24:59.960 activists to organize, or it's an anarchist stronghold full of 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:04.280 criminals and delusional hippies. One of the more fascinating things 0:25:04.320 --> 0:25:07.119 about the chairs for the purposes of this story is 0:25:07.160 --> 0:25:11.480 that the chairs unintentionally became perhaps the largest test case 0:25:11.640 --> 0:25:14.879 for the work of real life superheroes because cops were 0:25:14.920 --> 0:25:17.800 not allowed into the chairs, though I suspect the place 0:25:17.880 --> 0:25:21.240