"Boom Boom" Walsh, Angel Rosenthal, and Her Legal Team Hug It Out

Teens today have so much more stress than I remember. A week ago, there weren't eight pages of YouTube results for "Seattle cop punches jaywalker," and now there are.

It's become an international story--though Al Jazeera has yet to take note. Slackers. But thank you, Paris Match: "Un agent de police frappe une jeune femme."

A week ago, 17-year-old Angel Rosenthal didn't have a legal team, per se, just acquaintances with public defenders. It seems safe to assume that she wasn't on speed dial for Urban League President James Kelly, or Rev. Reggie Witherspoon, Pastor of Mount Calvary Christian Center.

But that's life: One moment you're blithely ignoring a pedestrian overpass to jaywalk across a 4-lane boulevard, with cars routinely hitting 45 mph, and the next you're pushing around a Seattle police officer and getting punched in the face. Could happen to anyone--as luck would have it, it was someone previously charged with second-degree robbery and third-degree theft.

Finally comes the media event with Interim SPD Chief John Diaz, Deputy Chief Nick Metz, and Rich O'Neill, President of the Seattle Police Officer's Guild, where you apologize to Officer Walsh, while facing charges of third-degree assault. If you have always wanted to be in a drama, this is pure political theatre. Listen as the Chief speaks:

Officer Walsh was approached about this and agreed to meet with this young woman. He did not have to do this, but he felt it was an important first step in the beginning of the healing process. I want to personally thank Officer Walsh for his willingness to participate in this dialogue in what has been, undoubtedly, a very stressful period. I would also like to thank Angel. I think her willingness to reach out to Officer Walsh shows bravery and maturity. We hope that this meeting will take the focus off the video clip and place it where it belongs, the need for the renewed commitment to a conversation about race and social justice in this city.

So anyway. You apologized. Officer Walsh is undergoing an internal investigation. The department has promised a review of procedures. Jaywalking has been examined: Why does it make the police so angry? City Attorney Pete Holmes got to zing Chief Diaz. The NAACP got to zing Chief Diaz. Distant observers have summed things up: "People are just stupid." It has only taken 700 or so articles, but the healing has begun. It's been a great few days. It's almost as if all this meant something.