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.
No doubt she was thinking such thoughts and how she could trick the cop so she could break out.
Yup, break out ~ every prisoner has those thoughts ~ she'd already broken out of her home and stolen her mother's car, so why not top that with a jailbreak.
Bet she'd get big ju-ju at school for that one.
Cop was correct ~ this little cookie was willing to kill him to escape. He had a reasonable fear for his life.
This was clearly her second attempt at escape that day.
So, if the girl, let’s say prior to the video, made fists, snarled, and said, “I’ll kill you if you put me in that cell.”..
In your view, if this occurred the LEO is exculpated for his actions on the video.
Is that a correct statement of your opinion?
BTW, you are also taught the same thing just in case you get caught.
If she said anything about harming or killing him, that's his defense. Her behavior certainly indicates her intention to leave the premises ~ even if she has to hurt some one.
Daniel Satterberg, the county prosecutor, said: "We believe this case is beyond just police misconduct, it's criminal misconduct. This is clearly excessive force."
Actually she lightly tossed her left shoe toward him using her foot. She did not retract her leg, so the shoe had almost no velocity. From the trajectory, the shoe might have reached the height of his knee at best. Yet your description makes it sound like she was genuinely trying to cause the officer physical harm by throwing the shoe forcefully at him. What you describe simply did not happen.
Did she put her hands up in a fighting stance? Yes.
No, she crossed her arms until the officer raced into the cell, at which point she uncrossed her arms in an obviously instinctive move to protect herself from his onslaught.
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.
Again, no. Look at the video. She put her left hand forward to protect herself from impacting the floor. The second officer grabbed that hand and pulled it around behind her. While the video could be clearer, it appears to me that the first officer then took that left hand from the second officer, and the second backed off slightly. The first officer then hit her twice with his right fist while he was holding her left wrist with his left hand. While he did that, the second officer, who by that time is clearly no longer holding onto her left wrist, holds her head or shoulder down with his left hand.
Just to be clear: The first officer hit her twice while she was face down, and he was holding her left hand behind her back. Neither officer was in any danger of being assaulted while the first one beat her.
But since it’s a “girl” it looks worse....had it been a grown man nobody would care.
I would.
And cops like this give pricks a bad name.
Could be this girl was exhibiting signs of being intoxicated with some unknown substance. There's enough experience with that sort of thing to be quick on your toes around prisoners.
We had a young kid across the river in Maryland who managed to pull a pistol out of a custodial officer's holster and kill him and his associate while he was still cuffed.
While she is face down on the floor and her left hand is being held behind her back? This isn't The Exorcist.
Still looks like she's got her mouth open ~ wonder if Daniel Satterberg has ever been bitten?
-snip-
"If the matter were to go to trial, he could face additional charges," said Ian Goodhew, deputy chief of staff in the Prosecutor's Office.
In his own report from the incident, Schene wrote that the shoe hit him in the right shin, "causing injury and pain." He wrote that he "placed" her into handcuffs and that she needed medical attention for a "panic attack."
He said a "blood filled pocket" formed on his shin, requiring treatment at Auburn General Hospital, according to his report. The video, however, appears to show his shin strike a metal toilet as he pushes the girl against the wall.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/401779_schene28.html
Should the discomfort of a police officer justify his assault on a subdued prisoner?
A wienie and a liar, picking on a 15 year old girl. Sounds like just what the force does not need.
“Maybe a good beatdown is what this individual really needs ~ although that’s probably against the law, and the goodtwoshoes wouldn’t like it, and the cop’s in trouble. “
The job of a cop should be to impartially enforce the law not to beat the crap out of people he thinks deserves it.
She wasn’t subdued ~ NO CUFFS ON HER. She obviously wasn’t intending to let them do that.
“She deserved it.”
She probably does deserve to have her butt kicked but that isn’t the job for cops.
He would have not ordinarily smacked the toilet with his shin had she not thrown her whing-ding.
“I keep waiting to see some LEO behavior that won’t be excused by the bootlickers. Hasn’t happened yet. Probably won’t ever.”
Some people on here worship any kind of authority. They would excuse anything from somebody with a badge. Anything. It really is quite scary to see some of the things these people defend.
He would have not ordinarily smacked the toilet with his shin had she not thrown her whing-ding.
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