Suspect in shooting of Washington State trooper was bailed out by notorious anti-police bail fund

The man accused of shooting a Washington State trooper 9 times on Friday was previously bailed out of jail by an activist bail fund that is committed to defunding the police and abolishing prisons.

On Tuesday, Posada was charged with first-degree assault with a firearm enhancement, unlawful possession of a firearm, and theft of a firearm after allegedly shooting a Washington State Patrol (WSP) trooper multiple times.

Last Friday in Kent, WA just before midnight, the trooper attempted to pull Posada over on State Route 167 for a suspected DUI.

According to charging documents, Posada was driving a stolen vehicle and slammed into another car on the 1600 block of West James Place and then attempted to flee. When the trooper then tried to stop Posada, shots were fired and witnesses saw two people fighting on the ground before the shots rang out.

At the time, he had a warrant out for his arrest in Pierce County after being charged with unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle, making a false or misleading statement to a public servant, and obstructing a law enforcement officer.

He is currently in King County jail on $3 million bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on March 4.

The Northwest Community Bail Fund bailed out Jason Posada, 31, in June, KOMO News reported, despite an extensive criminal history.

According to its website, the fund, which operates in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, advocates "for ending pretrial detention while working to minimize the harm of the cash bail system by paying bail for people who would otherwise spend the pre-trial time in jail, resulting in damaged work and social connections, and an increased pressure to plead guilty."

The organization claims the justice system “disproportionately harms our non-white neighbors. We recognize that these harms will be felt differently by people with different, intersecting identities because of the historical, social, cultural, and political contexts with which our country was created and is maintained.”

“Similarly, we must acknowledge that our non-cisgender community members have always been jailed at disproportionate rates and that jail is a particularly cruel experience for them. Therefore, we are including non-cisgender people in our prioritization.”

Last year, the radical organization known for bailing out violent criminals and prolific offenders came under fire for bailing out Allister Clinton Baldwin, a prolific offender and the suspect who was charged with Seattle’s first homicide of 2023, a year that saw the shattering of the record for homicides.

In 2020, Baldwin was arrested for a domestic violence incident involving another woman and the NW Community Bail Fund posted cash bail to get him released until his trial. The charges were dropped when the victim refused to testify.

Two years later, the fund put up bail for Kylan Houle on two pending felony gun charges. Several months later Houle broke into a home and shot a father of four. 

That same year, Michael Sedejo was in jail and charged with assault and robbery until the NW Community Bail Fund paid for his release and a month later Sedejo was charged with stabbing a man to death at City Hall Park, the site of a former notorious homeless encampment. 

Almost 52 percent of the suspects bailed out by the fund since mid-2020 failed to appear for their court dates, compared to 22 percent of defendants who failed to show up and didn't receive support from the fund, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Over 20 percent of those the bail fund helped release were later charged with a new felony compared to 15 percent of defendants who posted bail without the fund.