Posted on 05/10/2011 1:20:14 AM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
SEATTLE - Chris Harris had been wrongly identified as a suspect, yet when he ran from police they were the last steps he ever took. Harris was slammed into a wall by a King County deputy. The blow caused severe damage to his brain and spinal cord. "They took away the greatest person I ever met in my life," said Harris’s wife, Sarah.
The Sheriff’s Office was quick to defend the deputy. “Preliminary conclusion is that our deputy didn’t break any laws from his use of force,” said King County Sheriff's Office spokesman John Urquhart.
Prosecutors agreed. And even after King County paid out $10 million to settle a lawsuit, Sheriff Sue Rahr defended her deputy’s tactics. “There was no evidence of misconduct on the part of Deputy Paul," she told us.
But the Harris case was so traumatic we decided to take a closer look at the deputy. His name is Matt Paul. He’s 29-years-old and has been with the sheriff’s office for five and a half years.
KING 5 obtained Paul's file through public disclosure and analyzed 2,000 pages of documents spanning his entire career. We found a pattern of frequent force and questionable tactics that needlessly escalated some situations and caused injuries.
Red flags
We saw red flags early on. When Paul was a rookie his supervisors raised concerns-- about his tendency to rush, to “tunnel in,” to jump on incidents that were already covered.
But Paul liked to be where the action was.
By 2008, he was striking, tasing, and wrestling with suspects; using takedowns, foot sweeps, punches and pepper spray. His supervisors found all of it acceptable under department policy, but warned him to look for alternatives and to avoid arresting people simply because they challenged his authority or weren't respectful.
Paul was transferred to the Metro Transit Unit policing bus routes in April 2009. Buses travel through some high crime areas, so some force is to be expected. But we found Deputy Paul uses force far more often than the average transit deputy---six times more often.
The Chris Harris case in May, 2009 was so disturbing you’d expect it to be a wake-up call for the Sheriff’s Office to keep a close eye on Paul.
But we found a case a full year later, that made us wonder.
Another similar incident
Computer technology consultant Jeff Gold says he was walking home to his apartment in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood when he saw something that made him stop.
"What I saw was two people on a bench in the bus shelter and two officers standing over them haranguing them,” said Gold, who decided to take some pictures. "Probably had taken three or four photos,” Gold said, “and this is the moment the officer became aware of my presence,” showing us a picture.
Gold described the look on the officer’s face as “chilling.”
It was chilling because of what happened next. When Gold turned to go, he jaywalked.
“When I got about halfway across the street I heard this gentleman yell ‘Stop!’ I turned to look at him, kind of 'You're kidding right?'”
That's when Gold admits he made a bad decision - he'd been drinking and he flipped off the deputy, and kept going.
"At which point he took off at a sprint and it looked like a rhinoceros bearing down on me. I was running away from him so he grabbed me from behind and thrust me to the ground and my face smashed into the pavement," Gold said.
The deputy who did the takedown was Matt Paul.
Paul took pictures at the scene showing Gold right after medics showed up and bandaged his nose. The next day, Gold took some pictures of his own.
"And you can't quite tell, but you can see my nose is a little out of kilter here because it's been broken," Gold said. He was arrested for obstructing an officer, but he was never charged. And he didn't learn the name of the deputy until we contacted him.
"It's always been burning in my heart that I haven't pursued this, and then when you called to say you'd been looking into this it was like, unbelievable,” Gold said.
But we had one more surprise for Jeff Gold — tape he’d never seen. We showed him the tape of Deputy Paul slamming Chris Harris into the wall.
"If I had seen this video before I had encountered this gentleman on the street, I'd have run like the blazes," Gold said.
Gold also didn't know that the force used on him was found to be reasonable and within policy.
"The policy for what? In the sense that he didn't break my neck? Within the policy that this is how you treat jaywalkers?” said Gold.
More use of force
After the Gold incident, Paul used force in at least two more cases that raised eyebrows -- and prompted complaints to the Internal Investigations Unit.
We asked the Sheriff if he still belongs on the street.
“I agree with you. Deputy Paul has a lot of 'use of forces' and I am concerned about that,” said Sheriff Rahr. “His supervisors are very aware of how he performs his job and they're watching what he's doing. I can't turn around and fire a deputy because I have concerns. We are trying to work on it."
We hoped to hear Deputy Paul’s side of the story, and at first he said he would talk to us. But after conferring with his commanders, he changed his mind.
UP NEXT: Our investigation continues Wednesday night when we reveal how the Sheriff's Office broke promises and dropped the ball in aftermath of the Harris case -- and again a year later in the case of the jaywalker.
Maybe this psycho will just kill someone and end up in prison, then maybe the good Sheriff will see al those red flags.
How long are those who claim to love the constitution and liberty going to allow this type of Nazi/Police State to continue to grow.
Yes, of course. That's why the county paid out $10 million to settle the lawsuit, because of lack of evidence.
That’s always their story... nothing to see here, move along now...
I always though nuisance settlements were usually $10,000 or $20,000 not $10 million...
guest3 months ago
The man was not simply just standing there. This all began when the person ran from the police. He was with a group of friends, officers approach and identify themselves and this fellow ran. He ran because he had drugs with him. At the end of the video you can clearly see him throw down a baggie and turn toward the officer who was already running at him. After realizing that he has essentially run himself into a corner (the building) he throws down his dope and is now ready to give up. If he would have had more area to run he would have kept running. The original call was for a person stabbed, so the officer must assume that this person may be armed with a knife and takes reasonable means to subdue the suspect.
Does something tragic happen, yes. The officer thinks he is chasing an armed suspect. He does not know nor does he have time to determine that this person apparantly ran because he “only” had drugs on him. If you are not commiting crimes to start with, you have nothing to worry about. This guy knew it was police who were approaching him. If he didn’t why didn’t the rest of his buddies run with him—because they didn’t have drugs on them. Also, other people heard the officers ID themselves and say something to this person. Just because ONE person didn’t hear the officers doesn’t mean the ID did not happen.
The application of force by police almost never looks good, because it is just that—force. Most people do not want to see the ugliness that truly happens. But the reality of our country is that people commit crimes and attempt to escape or harm police because they don’t want to be caught—ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY for their wrong actions. Our country will continue to slide down with the prevailing attitude that people are not accountable for THEIR OWN ACTIONS and try to blame others, especially those in charge or tasked with doing a job that most people don’t want to do but are “experts” at reviewing at home because they watch TV and think they know how it should be done. If you are so concerned and think you can do it better, then join up and do it better. But you will probably quickly learn the difference between reality and what people “wish” would take place.
Absolutely there are bad cops out there and should be purged from the ranks. But, this is not one of those cases. This is tragic and some may think it is a cold statement, but the person who ran from the police needs to accept his responsibility for what he did. With that, I hope he does get better over time.
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2011/01/christopher_harris_still_unabl.php
Another stunning scoop brought to you from cub reporter Magical Mystery Tour who simply has nothing else to and nothing else to do it with.
There are FAR more bad cops out there then anyone wants to acknowledge.
The general competence level has been dropping steadily for several years.
Lots of possible reasons, the “Wink” at established civil rights law encouraged by the “Patriot Act”, departments hiring thugs who have had their records expunged, hiring so many ex-servicemen who have not truly fully adjusted back into civilian life, etc.
Sad to see, and I doubt the end result is going to be to the liking of those of us who truly value traditional American freedom.
Reports of cops involved in criminal enterprise, child porn, rape, DUI, etc. have become daily occurrences.
Despite this we are to assume all cops are some sort of special breed, superior to the average citizen!
So much for, “We hold these truths to be self evident..........”.
This kind of garbage won't stop until the thugcops -- and their (thugcop?) superviors -- are on the hook for at least part of the damages.
But the cops are unionized, which means that won't happen, and this kind of garbage won't stop.
Yes, we live in a thugocracy, from the fedgov and obama to the local thugcops...
I read both stories and neither mention drugs. I find that very suspicious because if what he had thrown down had been drugs, they would have certainly said something about it, if for no other reason but to justify the arrest.
I saw the video and was utterly appalled. Given what that kid was doing, running, there was absolutely no need for that level of violence. And I say that even if he KNEW he was being chased by a cop.
If you think that the amount of force that “officer” applied was reasonable or prudent, all I can say is I hope I never live in any city where they give people with your viewpoint guns and badges.
Just one question: Let’s assume your interpretation is 100% accurate. Why would the county pay $10,000,000 to settle?
Possible answers:
(1) This was righteous but unfortunate. However, given the officer’s history of use of force, the county’s lawyer said “settle, period.” Well, that shows poor judgment keeping this officer on the force. Or maybe they have no choice. After all, he’s union, and they don’t pay, the taxpayers do.
(2) This was a thugcop who enjoyed giving a beat down. Still has his job, though, and the taxpayers are still out $10,000,000. And the union couldn’t care less.
Next time, it will be more. Or someone will die. And given the history, there WILL be a next time.
PS Most of the time you see this: “He was arrested for obstructing an officer, but he was never charged,” it’s a thugcop arresting someone to try to cover their @@@...
“There are FAR more bad cops out there then anyone wants to acknowledge.”
True. With regards to the state of New Jersey you can throw in vastly overpaid as well.
Or maybe Paul will kill somebody, get away with it and, having made his bones, finally become part of the BATF.
“If you are so concerned and think you can do it better, then join up and do it better. But you will probably quickly learn the difference between reality and what people “wish” would take place.”
Your statement contains much wisdom. People should keep this in mind before judging law enforcement. I had this proven to me about three years ago.
I don’t know if you have seen the movie Wyatt Earp starring Kevin Costner.
There is a scene where Earp is training Bat and Ed Masterson to be deputies. Ed is trying to talk a cowboy into going to jail for drunkenness and Earp comes in and hits the cowboy in the head with his gun.
Masterson can’t understand why Earp has to use such excessive force until Earp shows him that the cowboy has a hidden gun.
I work part time as an unarmed security guard at a large retail store.
I got a call from store management that there was a gentleman outside the main entrance harassing customers. They told me to go and ask the man to leave the premises.
I did, and the man told me to go f**k myself. I called back inside and reported to management and they said they would call the police.
I stayed outside keeping customers away from this guy and I kept asking him to leave.
About 5 minutes later a police car pulled up. One of the officers jumped from the car, ran up to the guy, grabbed him and slammed him into the the side of the building and then took him down hard to the sidewalk.
My initial reaction, and the reaction of some bystanders, was that it seemed that the police used excessive force for the situation.
However, when the officer took him down to the sidewalk, a knife fell from the guy’s hand. I had not seen the knife the entire time that I had been trying to get the guy to leave.
I also found out afterwards that the officer knew the guy and had dealt with him before and knew that he could be violent.
Are there bad cops? Definitely?
But I know that they are put in positions that I would never want to encounter.
One theory could be that bringing up the drugs would do no good or even work against the police. "He was body slammed and made a vegetable over an ounce of pot?"
How about this --- Someone who was not stoned would have reacted better to the body slam and would not have allowed his skull to to hit the concrete. The cop did not intend to hit so hard that the kid would be injured so badly.
But cop is guilty in my book. He might be on steroids. For costing the taxpayers 10 million he should have been fired.
Reporting the unionized cop behavior is educational to this forum. This particular sheriff's deputy is a menace to society.
All you union cops out there let it be known the populace is growing ever more aware of police abuse. They are taxpayers and are understanding the sweetheart deals between the politicians and the police unions.
So get off your smug rump and defend the ULEO rather than attack the messenger. Otherwise, stfu.
KING-5 in Seattle had about ten minutes of coverage about this this evening.
They investigated through FOIA requests over 2000 pages of the history of the guy involved.
He has a LONG history, both before and after, of what most reasonable people would call excessive use of force.
If the County settled for ten mill, you can bet the lawyers for the county were telling them “If this goes to court, you’da wished you spent the ten mill, because the jury will give them so much more it would make ten mill look like piggy bank pennies...”
Sorry. I disagree with your assessment. Sometimes we get to the point where the “I vas jus doink my job” bs don’t cut it anymore.
Fine the Police Union Retirement Fund $10 million dollars and you’d see union management get rid of the problems, pronto.
The guy flips off a cop and runs away from him, and we're supposed to feel like he didn't deserve to get tackled? Give me a break. The jerk's broken nose was well-deserved.
The local Seattle news media bashes police on a nearly nightly basis, pausing only occasionally when the regional cop-hatred results in a cop or two getting murdered.
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