Biography
Evergreen State College student and PMR organizer in Olympia. Arrested multiple times during the 2006-2008 PMR campaign. The defining incident: on May 30, 2007 the Washington State Patrol pulled Chinn over near the Port of Aberdeen, falsely arrested him for DUI, and held him 36 hours despite a blood-alcohol level of 0.000. He sued the WSP under 42 U.S.C. §1983; the State of Washington settled for in excess of $400,000 — one of the largest false-arrest settlements ever obtained by a Washington anti-war organizer. Chinn was not a named plaintiff in Panagacos v. Towery but was likewise a target of John Towery's surveillance operation.
The ACLU's August 11, 2010 survey reports that police had watched Philip Chinn and other activists prepare for an anti-war protest at the Port of Grays Harbor. Before his arrest, police broadcast an attempt to locate his car and described its occupants as three known anarchists. The ACLU states that the criminal charges were dismissed after tests showed no alcohol or drugs in his system.
