By Christine Clarridge

The Seattle Times

The Washington State Patrol issued an apology after video surfaced of an officer telling his team, “Don’t kill them, but hit them hard,” while preparing to clear protesters from the streets in Seattle’s Capitol Hill on Tuesday evening.

The video was taken shortly before 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, igniting strong responses on social media.

WSP spokesman Chris Loftis, in a statement released Wednesday morning, said the officer was trying to motivate, reassure and prepare his team for a difficult task.

He said officers were getting ready to conduct a “push technique” designed to actively force “aggressive, non-compliant, and threatening protesters away from a designated area. … His word choice, especially when considered outside of the context of his team’s immediate challenges, was not.”

From the statement: “WSP is aware of the video and apologizes for the poor choice of words by one our team leaders preparing his troopers for a possibly confrontational situation. We hope the public will accept that apology and we ask for grace and understanding as our troopers are serving in tense situations of danger and difficulty.”