Officer Donald makes appearance in trial of Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin

Olympia police Officer Ryan Donald made his first appearance in the trial of Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin on Tuesday, about six weeks after their trial on assault charges began.

Chaplin and his brother, Thompson, face assault charges resulting from an alleged May 21, 2015, attack on Donald, who was attempting to apprehend the brothers after responding to a report of thefts and an assault at the west Olympia supermarket.

Both men were shot during the altercation with Donald, who was cleared of wrongdoing by the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office and the Olympia Police Department.

On Tuesday, attorneys questioned Donald at length about a 7-year-old Facebook post depicting Martin Luther King Jr. holding ice cream, with the caption “I have a dreamsicle.”

Donald didn’t answer the questions before the jury, but during an evidentiary hearing, in which Judge Erik Price ruled that the image could be admitted as evidence. Defense attorneys Sunni Ko and George Trejo argued that the image is offensive, and shows Donald’s bias against the defendants, who are African American.

“He never thought for one moment that it could be offensive to other people who might be privy to his Facebook account,” Ko said. “He never considered that others might find it offensive.”

Ko said that Donald’s inability to understand that the image might be offensive shows his bias.

Deputy Prosecutor Scott Jackson said the incident didn’t occur because of bias — it was related directly to an incident at a nearby grocery store earlier that evening.

“There’s no evidence that (Donald) sought these two out because they’re African American,” Jackson said.

“They want to insinuate something that isn’t there,” he added.

Donald said the Facebook post wasn’t intended as a political statement — he just found it amusing. He said he likely posted is sometime in 2010. He took down his Facebook page shortly after the 2015 shooting.

“It’s a play on words, the ‘I have a dreamsicle,’” Donald said. “The kind of ice cream that he’s holding is a dreamsicle.”

Trejo asked Donald whether he’s a member of any white supremacy groups, to which Donald responded “absolutely not.” Donald also said he believed King is a civil rights hero.

He said he didn’t create the image or edit it in any way.

This story was originally published May 2, 2017 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Officer Donald makes appearance in trial of Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin."