City of Seattle v. Alexander

(dissenting) — Seattle Municipal Code, § 12.11.020 (ordinance No. 16046, § 1) should not be so narrowly construed. The majority’s theory that it applies only when the criminal act is accompanied by “hue and cry or public disturbance generated either by physical violence or by flight to avoid detection or attempt to effect recovery, detention or arrest” distorts the plain meaning of the ordinance. It ignores the broad meaning ordi*10narily applied to the terms “public peace” and “disorderly conduct.”

The majority equates section 12.11.020 with the common law offense of “breach of the peace,” a…