Posted on 02/27/2009 5:39:58 PM PST by microgood
SEATTLE - A security video released Friday shows a King County sheriff's deputy purportedly shoving and kicking a 15-year-old girl in a holding cell after her arrest.
The security video was obtained by KOMO News under the state Open Records Act.
The deputy, Paul Schene, 31, has been charged with fourth-degree assault in connection with the Nov. 29 incident in a holding cell at SeaTac City Hall. Schene pleaded not guilty to the charge Thursday, and he was released on his own recognizance.
According to court records, Schene and another deputy arrested a pair of 15-year-old girls for investigation of auto theft after they were stopped driving a stolen car.
The girls were taken to the holding facility at SeaTac City Hall for fingerprinting and other processing.
Trouble allegedly began after Schene escorted one of the teens into a holding cell. While trying to take her shoes off, the girl kicked off her left shoe, which struck the deputy in the shin, the document said.
The video shows the girl crossing her arms and kicking off her shoe through the doorway of the cell. The video then shows the deputy's violent response. (Watch the video clip.)
Court records say Schene kicked the teen in the upper thigh area, then pushed her into the back wall before taking her down on the floor and putting her in a handcuffing position. Once on the floor, Schene grabbed the teen's hair and yanked her head and neck upward, the document said.
With the help of the other deputy, Schene then handcuffed the teen, the document said. While doing so, Schene appeared to strike the teen twice overhead, investigators noted. However, due to the angle of the camera, they could not determine whether the deputy had actually hit the teen.
The document states teen then began complaining about not being able to breathe. She later told investigators she was pulled up to her feet by her hair and taken back to the regular holding area. Medics were called to tend to her, but she was not taken to the hospital.
Both girls were booked into the Youth Center on auto theft charges. One of the girls was also booked for assault for allegedly assaulting the deputy.
Schene's attorney, Anne Bremner, released a statement Friday in response to the video's release. The statement said:
"We had argued strenuously that the video tape released to the media this morning not be released because it does not tell the whole story of the incident. As we argued to the judge, it will inflame public opinion and will severely impact the deputy's right to a fair trial. We will defend this misdemeanor case in court. No story can be sliced so thin that it does not have two sides. We hope that judgment will be reserved until all the facts of this case are given fair consideration in court."
On Dec. 1, the detective assigned to the auto theft and assault case checked the security video as part of her follow-up investigation. She saw the holding cell video and immediately notified her supervisor.
An investigation then began, and the accused deputy, an 8-year veteran of the force, was placed on paid administrative leave the following day. He currently remains on leave.
Sgt. John Urquhart said the surveillance video shows Schene "using more force that was necessary as far as the prosecutor's office is concerned. And as far as we're concerned, that rises up to the level of an assault."
Schene said the teen had become enraged when she found out she was going to be booked into the Youth Center, the document said.
The teen told detectives she had not meant to hit the deputy with her shoe, and said she never resisted arrest. She also said the incident left a bruise on her right hip, as well as scratches on her arm and neck.
The second teen later told investigators her friend and Schene had been "arguing at each other" since the traffic stop.
The second deputy said the alleged victim was "real lippy," calling the deputies names and "basically trying to piss us off."
Schene refused to explain why he had made the two strikes toward the teen in the holding cell since he and his partner appeared to have the teen under control. He also refused to say whether the strikes actually made contact.
Now that the criminal investigation is complete, the sheriff's Internal Investigations Unit will launch its own probe. The result will determine discipline, which could include termination.
Just last week in shopping center in Springfield, VA, I witnessed a young woman using the crosswalk in the parking lot and a beat-up old clunker sedan raced up and darn near hit this young woman (me too).
The young woman yelped loudly as the car passed by. Scared her a lot. Me too.
The driver of the vehicle (with DC plates), turned around and pursued the young woman and stopped behind her vehicle (she was not yet in it). The driver lumbered out (all 200lbs of her) and lunged at the young woman. The driver was screaming, yelling and saying things like, “I'll whup yo’white ass!” “I'll cut you ho!” “cracker beat down, cracker beat down, cracker beat down.”
The young woman, your basic 20-something little thing, was terrified and started running, pursued by the enraged animal. She ran toward me, one lane away. You could see absolute terror in her eyes. The young lady hid behind me and when the animal started to slap/punch around me to get at the young woman, I simply knocked the poo out of the animal. After the enraged animal got up, she tried to attack me and again I knocked her down. All the time the animal was spewing the most foul and racist language you can imagine. The animal then went away, never once stopping her rants.
I am curious, according to your Granpa, was I a coward to act the way I did.
(Never did call the police, too much of a bother.)
She should not have kicked her shoe off.
Long as she understands taking a car without permission is going to result in Very Bad Things Happening in the future, I don’t care if she likes the law or cops...it’s that she BEHAVES that matters.
My mother always made it bloody clear that if I so much as touched the car without permission she’d have me picked up for stealing it without any hesitation and press charges to the fullest extent of the law. Sounds to me like that’s the mindset this girl’s mother has and girlie thought she was just kidding.
Furthermore, does a minor even HAVE standing without her parents backing her? I don’t think they’re gonna.
You don’t have to LIKE the law, you merely have to OBEY just laws.
I don’t think missy here will ever think about putting her grubby paws on something she doesn’t own or have permission to again, do you?
I'm with you. I'm not saying kids should be beat like this every day, but there are some individuals out there who need it just once in their lives.
You should not talk to me or anyone else this way. Very foolish on your part. You exhibit WHY this girl probably was handled roughly. A large percentage of students in school today have the very same attitude you just showed and it can not continue. Wait patiently and watch what happens next. Profanity never won an argument.
Same here...but a semblance of order MUST be returned to society or we are headed for anarchy. Individuals cursing me for my views are representative of the very problem about which this thread is about. It is really sad to see things falling apart like they are. Everyone thinks they can rule by force and each man thinks he is the law.
Of course. Those quadreplegics aren't going to beat themselves up.
Know what you're talking about, and then speak as with authority, you freaking dunce.’
Your level of self control does not help your argument.
You might note that I did not condone the officers actions, I only commented on the video.
The case will come down to whether the deputy had a lawful right to enter the cell?
Yes, she threw one shoe at him and was preparing to throw the next.
Did she put her hands up in a fighting stance?
Yes.
Is he required to wait for a person to throw a punch or is it reasonable for someone to assume a person “putting up their dukes” might throw an actual punch?
I say a reasonable police officer (note, the standard for excessive force claims is what a reasonable Police Officer believes, not what a reasonable newspaper reader believes) would believe that she was getting ready to throw a punch, scratch his face, etc..
If he believed that the punch, or other form of assault, was coming then he has the lawful right to use force.
That kick is trained in the academy to create distance and halt someone from punching you.
Head and hair hold takedowns are standard fare when trying to get someone on the ground and into handcuffs.
She received two blows once on the ground and while her hands were beneath her body, where they can’t be cuffed, and once the hands came out from under her, she received no further blows.
If he was just pissed off about the shoe hitting him he would have done a lot more to her than a kick and two strikes...
But since it’s a “girl” it looks worse....had it been a grown man nobody would care.
Very good points...all.
No threat outside losing your eyesight from stupid 15 y.o. girl who you think can’t hurt you ‘til you get a fingernail shoved into your cornea.
15 y.o. girls shoot, stab, punch, scratch, every day in this state.
But the size difference on camera is such that it plays into people’s perceived notions of how boys and girls are supposed to act.
Nothing changes, ever, you’re not supposed to make the girl cry in grade school or police work.
And yes, I know someone who has had eye damage from this sort of thing.
This deputy had a guy try to strangle him with his own portable microphone cord before. He knows how bad it can get in a hurry, even from a person smaller than himself.
If you have to use force, you have to use reasonable force and end it quickly.
He did that in my opinion.
Again, I’d question why she was not in cuffs in the holding cell, but since I wasn’t there I don’t know the reason why.
I once thought a 15 y.o. girl couldn’t harm me and then I got punched twice before I figured out it can happen to me too.
I did the dance with her trying to be nice because I didn’t want to scrape her up on the pavement and it lasted 5 minutes instead of 10 seconds.
And you know what happened? The NAACP demanded I be fired after I used zero force.
So which is better? Going through the media telling people you should be fired for getting punched? Or going through the media and a prosecutor accusing you of assault and you didn’t get punched?
Get an application and pick you poison.
Note then before he throws the two punches, her feet are moving. After, they immediatly stop.
He definately hit her.
Did you get your glasseye from a 15 y.o. girl’s fingernail? I know a cop you lost his vision like that?
I say a reasonable police officer (note, the standard for excessive force claims is what a reasonable Police Officer believes, not what a reasonable newspaper reader believes) would believe that she was getting ready to throw a punch, scratch his face, etc..
From 10 feet away, all he would have had to do was, SHUT THE DOOR!!! I doubt she would be able to scare the pants off this jackboot through a 2 inch thick steel door. And if she could, this guy needs to find another line of work, like selling used cars.
I will not excuse this behavior and give this guy a pass. This is just another small incremental step towards a totalitarian police state. It needs to be stopped in its tracks. Before rebellion is necessary.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
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