The Seattle police were accused of macing a 7-year-old boy at a Black Lives Matter protest. The protester who filmed the aftermath was held in jail for 2 days a week later.

• A Seattle protester who captured video of a distressed young boy who was said to have just been maced in the face by the police at a Black Lives Matter demonstration on May 30 was himself arrested a week later.
• Evan Hreha had posted the video to social media. The video caused 11,000 complaints to be filed to Seattle's Office of Police Accountability, Seattle's Komo News reported.
• Hreha attended another peaceful protest in Seattle on June 7. Following the protest, he told The Guardian, he was confronted by several officers who told him he "had been identified as someone who pointed a laser in an officer's eye." He was denied bail and held for two days in jail but was not charged with a crime.
• Hreha told the outlet that he believed his arrest was in retaliation for the video he captured of the young boy.

Video footage captured at a Seattle protest on May 30 showed a small child in distress.

The footage was posted online by a man named Evan Hreha, who attended the Black Lives Matter demonstration and said the child in the video had just been maced by the police.

"First person maced is a little girl," Hreha wrote in a caption alongside the video, originally mistaking the young child for a girl. "What the f--- is wrong with you people."

Several days later, after he had attended another Black Lives Matter protest, Hreha was arrested on suspicion of unlawful discharge of a laser. He was held in jail for two days before being released, according to King County Jail records.

Hreha, who was not charged with a crime, told The Guardian that he believed his arrest was in retaliation for the video.

"It just kind of shattered that false narrative that was in my head that cops always protect and serve," Hreha told the outlet.

What happened at the protests

Hreha had been attending a Black Lives Matter protest in Seattle on May 30. Mando Avery was also there with his family, including his 7-year-old son, he told The Guardian.

Mayor Jenny Durkan announced a 5 o'clock curfew that night to quell protests inflamed by the death of George Floyd, who was killed following an arrest in which a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. According to The Seattle Times, Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington activated the National Guard shortly after the curfew began.

The day began with several peaceful rallies, though police officers used flash bangs and tear gas to break up crowds that continued protesting into the evening. There were reports of break-ins and looting in downtown Seattle. Seattle's police chief, Carmen Best, said in a statement that 27 people were arrested that evening.

Hreha told Komo News that around the time he shot his video, roughly 50 people were "facing off against the cops" at about 3 p.m. during a peaceful protest at Seattle's Westlake Park.

But Avery told The Guardian the police turned on the protesters seemingly unprovoked. He said his 7-year-old son was hit in the face with mace.

"I would say that you were targeting my boy," Avery told The Guardian, addressing the police. He said he didn't know whether the police "were trying to set an example and strike fear" into his son but was most upset that no officers or medical technicians stepped in to help.

Hreha's video begins with the young boy clutching onto his father while screaming. Several protesters attempt to spray the boy with water, while another appears to douse him in milk to try to stop the burning.

According to Komo News, Hreha's video caused 11,000 complaints to be filed to Seattle's Office of Police Accountability.

Andrew Myerberg, the director at the Office of Police Accountability, told Komo News the agency would be "actively investigating" an officer believed to have been involved in the incident.

On June 7, Hreha attended another protest, where he told The Guardian he helped hand out free hot dogs to demonstrators.

Hreha told the outlet he was surrounded and arrested on his way home by several officers and "had been identified as someone who pointed a laser in an officer's eye" during the protest, an allegation he denies.

The King County prosecuting attorney said in a tweet on June 8 that charges were not filed against Hreha but that the Seattle Police Department would be sending the case to Seattle Municipal Court "for consideration of a misdemeanor charge."

The Seattle Office of Police Accountability did not immediately respond to Insider for comment about the macing allegation and Hreha's allegation of retaliation.