A group of about 25 gathered outside of Olympia Mayor Cheryl Selby's house late Thursday night and remained into Friday morning, blowing whistles, banging pots, setting off firecrackers, and chanting about the police.
Around 11:15 p.m., Selby woke up to a text from police about a group of protesters headed to her house. A short time later, she walked outside and greeted a crowd of about 25 people in the three-way intersection outside her South Capitol house.
"I just walked out barefoot and said, 'hey, what can I do, what do you want to share with me' -- and just trying to be like, 'let's have a conversation, I've made myself available here, what can we do,'" Selby said.
Then the protesters began "hurling insults," she said, saying things like "take your BLM poster down" and "don't be performative, you don't really believe it."
Protesters also made demands, saying the city should fire officer Ryan Donald, fire City Manager Jay Burney, re-open the Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin case, and "find the killer" of Yvonne McDonald.
"That's when I started to tell them that most of what you're demanding of me I can't do or I can't do alone," Selby said. "And then I tried to explain to them about the council-manager form of government, and they didn't want to hear that."
Selby told The Olympian Friday she tried to engage with the protesters, but they continued shouting at her and filming her with their cell phones.
"I said I want to give you guys some options of how to engage. We're moving forward with our scoping out the human rights commission, and then they just yell at you again. I can't get a point out before they shut me down, so it's just like, why am I here, just to be your punching bag?"
"They all yell at the same time, they don't coordinate," Selby added.
Selby went back into her house. Later, she said the protesters started screaming about being hungry, so she brought out a bowl of mixed nuts and a pitcher of water.
Then they said she "probably spit in it".
"Why would I spit in it? I've got kids your age," Selby said.
At that point, Selby said she went inside, put in earplugs, and went to sleep.
Later in the evening, security camera footage shows one person taking furniture from Selby's porch and throwing it on the ground. Another person pulled out a lawn sign for candidate Jessica Bateman and burned it in the street.
In one video, about two dozen people in black clothing are chanting "no justice, no peace, get tear gas off our streets."
One protester holds a flare, and smoke is visible.
In another video, a group of about 25 people sit in the street listening to someone talk through a megaphone about police statements being untrustworthy.
"It was all the protesters just screaming profanities and insults at the cops," Selby said. "It's imbecile. They just taunted them all night. So juvenile."
They were still there around 6 a.m., when Selby's husband walked their dog. By 9 a.m., Selby, the protesters, and police had left the area.
Some security camera video shows police officers standing guard on the edge of Selby's lawn, though in other videos they are not visible. OPD did not respond to several phone calls Friday morning.
Selby said these types of protests are counterproductive.
"Actions like these protests give folks that are on the fence (about issues) an excuse to push away. And I think that does not serve the Black Lives Matter movement at all when these destructive protests, these violent protests, they distract from the work that really needs to be done and give people an excuse not to participate," she said.
Selby said these types of actions are a distraction from meaningful reform and pointed to the human rights commission and other initiatives the city is undertaking to address police accountability.
"Incidences like this are aberrations, are just something that slows us down," Selby said. "They are distractions from the real work that needs to be done. And the real work sometimes is boring. And sometimes slow. And you don't get to scream all the time. And you actually have to listen."
Selby said this is the fourth time protesters have gathered outside her house, and she is losing the will to engage.
In June, protesters spray-painted Selby's home.
"I think the longer it goes on, maybe the more numb you get, which isn't good either," she said. "I just try to make sense of it. Why now, why here? I thought we were turning a corner in that we weren't having as many of those property damage-oriented actions out there."
