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Man sentenced to 5 years for assaulting officer, attempted arson of Seattle's East Precinct

The charges stemmed from incidents that occurred during the protest near Cal Anderson Park in the former Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in September 2020.

SEATTLE — Two people charged with the attempted arson of a Seattle police precinct during racial justice protests in 2020 were sentenced in King County Superior Court Friday.

Jacob Greenburg, 19, the stepson of former Kirkland State Rep. Laura Ruderman, was sentenced to five years in prison, in line with what prosecutors recommended. Greenburg was charged with first-degree assault, first-degree attempted arson and first-degree reckless burning.

Danielle McMillan, 29, was sentenced to 12 months of community service. McMillan was charged with first-degree attempted arson.

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The charges stemmed from incidents that occurred during the protest near Cal Anderson Park in the former Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) zone in September 2020. The protest was eventually declared a riot by Seattle police after they determined it exceeded more than 100 people.

According to court documents, after police declared a riot, Greenburg and McMillan helped light Molotov cocktails that were then thrown into the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct.

Court documents revealed text messages in which Greenburg and McMillan allegedly conspired to set fires around SPD’s East Precinct. The documents revealed a series of exchanges Greenburg had with other protesters. One of them read, “How many Molotov cocktails you think we should have by Labor Day cuz we shouldn’t overuse our resources.”

The court documents also show a chat conversation where Greenburg admits to throwing a Molotov cocktail at the East Precinct.

Greenburg was also charged for smashing a metal baseball bat into the head of Seattle police officer Jose Jimenez on Capitol Hill during the riot. The incident was captured on video and was shared across the country. Investigators said the officer’s bike helmet likely saved his life.

"I don't know how I'm still here," Jimenez told the court Friday.

Greenburg and McMillan allegedly glorified the assault on Jimenez. “Wish he didn’t have a helmet on lol,” Greenburg texted McMillan, according to charging documents.

Seattle Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz called it a "brutal crime."

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