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The Seattle police officer who shot and killed a partially-deaf First Nations woodcarver testified on Wednesday at an inquest hearing.

John T. Williams, 50, a member of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Dititdaht First Nation on Vancouver Island was gunned down by officer Ian Birk on August 30, 2010 in downtown Seattle.

At the time, Williams, who was known for carving small totem poles, was seen by Birk walking across an intersection, allegedly carrying an open folding three-inch blade knife.

After repeatedly ordering Williams to put down the knife, which Birk claims he was holding in a confrontational posture, he told the inquest that he had no choice but to fire his pistol 4 times, killing Williams.

But a lawyer representing the family of Williams says he was not facing officer Birk at the time of the shooting.

Further complicating the issue is the fact that the knife carried by Williams was closed when discovered by police after the shooting.

It is speculated the knife may have closed from dropping to the ground or Williams was in the process of closing his blade when he was shot.

Birk stands by his statement that Williams’ knife was indeed open and not in a closed position.

According to the Sky Valley Chronicle, whether the knife was open or closed could decide whether criminal charges will be laid against Birk.

In the days after the shooting, an uproar of criticism rippled through Indigenous communities in the U.S. and Canada, with hundreds of people questioning whether lethal force was necessary.

At the time of his death, family members say Williams was beginning to turn his life around.  They say that because he was hard of hearing, slow moving, and often confused because of his struggle with alcoholism, Williams may not have heard or understood Birk’s order.

When the hearings wrap up, a jury will decide whether criminal charges will be brought against officer Birk.

[Images via seattleweekly.com and policemag.com]

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In December, Seattle Police released a video of the moments leading up to the fatal shooting.  In it, you can hear Birk shouting at Williams and then the four shots:

As of 12:32pm AEDT “today” in Australia, the predominantly-Aboriginal town of Cherbourg (pop’n 1,241) is one of many places in Queensland now “cut off by flooding, and could be isolated for more than 24 hours,” reports ABC News:

[South Burnett Regional Council] Mayor David Carter says it is proving difficult to get supplies to flooded communities. “Murgon is completely surrounded by water and so is Cherbourg,” he said. “Groceries are quite short in both towns. … they might even have to helicopter foods and supplies into there.”

According to The Gympie Times, the floodwaters have arisen from the nearby Barambah Creek.

Brief piece of sad news in yesterday’s The Australian:

The natural disaster claimed another victim yesterday when a young woman drowned in a flooded creek at the Cherbourg Aboriginal community, inland from Gympie. The woman, in her 20s, was the 11th person to die as a result of the state’s floods in the past fortnight.

Will post more if/when I hear it, including confirmation or denial as to whether the woman was indeed Aboriginal.

According to this map from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the small Aboriginal settlement of Woorabinda in central Queensland has been “declared a disaster zone due to the flooding” that’s devastated huge portions of the state.

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Woorabinda, pop’n 928, is about 170 km southwest of Rockhampton, the Queensland “town worst affected by floods,” according to The Telegraph.

UPDATE: From what I can gather, Woorabinda was but one of many area towns to fall under this declaration back in late December of 2010, or less than 2 weeks ago.

UPDATE2: A Dec. 30, 2010 report from the Rockhampton News indicates “that the community is coping well after being isolated by the floodwaters,” and quotes local police as saying they’d “like to reassure relatives and friends that everybody in the community is safe and well…” now that power and phone lines have been restored.