The events that took place in the summer of 2020 after the murder of George Floyd were a time of chaos and civil unrest in America. While many protestors were peaceful, some individuals chose to engage in violent acts, causing harm to others and property damage. One such individual was Margaret Channon, a 25-year-old white woman from Tacoma, Washington, who has now been convicted of setting fire to five Seattle police cars on May 30, 2020.
Channon had traveled to downtown Seattle to join the peaceful protestors who were raising awareness for the Black Lives Matter movement. However, instead of engaging in peaceful protest, she brought with her a makeshift flamethrower and used it to burn parked police vehicles. She ran back and forth between the burning vehicles for about 25 minutes to ensure that they would never be used again.
During her trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg acknowledged that most protestors were peaceful. However, he also emphasized that Channon was on a mission to cause destruction in the wake of Floyd’s killing.
Greenberg stated, “Ms. Channon left downtown Seattle in flames and in billowing smoke. She wasn’t alone, but Ms. Channon set the tone for what that protest became moving forward.”
Channon was the final defendant to be convicted and sentenced in federal court related to Seattle unrest charges. In addition to burning the police vehicles, she also confessed to smashing Verizon store windows and destroying a cash register at a sandwich shop.
Although Channon has since apologized for her actions, it does not excuse the harm she caused. Her apology, shared through a sentencing memo from her lawyer, stated, “I apologize to the many workers and activists – who have given decades of their lives to building a countermeasure to police violence – that did not want to see fire. I had intended to effect positive change, but my attempt was misguided.”
Channon’s mother, Elizabeth MacGahan, wrote a letter to the court defending her daughter. She claimed that Channon comes from a family committed to civil service and that the recent deaths of her two grandmothers and the pandemic contributed to her daughter’s violent behavior. While these may be contributing factors, they do not excuse or justify Channon’s actions.
Channon was identified after the civil unrest because of high-quality images taken during the rampage. Investigators were able to identify her with a unique tattoo on her hand. An indictment from 2020 reads, “She had the letters ‘W-A-I-F’ tattooed on the fingers of her left hand… The letters were oriented such that the bottom of the letters faced towards her fingertips.”
Channon was sentenced to five years in prison for burning down police vehicles during the May 30, 2020, civil unrest in Seattle, Washington. This sentence serves as a reminder that violent actions, regardless of the motive, have consequences. Channon’s actions caused harm to others and property damage, and it is imperative that individuals who engage in such behavior are held accountable for their actions.
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Source: AWM
