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.
Please tell me you're not in law enforcement.
You’re nuts.
I am agnostic on the cop thing.
Don’t particularly like ‘em. Also I don’t hate them.
For the guys who want to be a guardian & protect the public from evil, I am grateful for the service.
For the guys who were bullies in school and want to continue on in adult life ... f ‘em. Bouncer is probably a more appropriate career choice.
I watched the video.
I can’t see where the officer’s strikes landed. Anyone marginally trained in combat will not strike the skull with bare knuckles. I think that the strikes were directed to the nape of the neck, which is full of non-lethal pressure points. (Forget about the Spock Chop. It’s BS)
Did I forget the /S?
That’s ‘cause this one isn’t over yet.
They didn't know if the punches connected?
BS
Just being consistent, same thing if it was a guy asking for the cops to kick his ass. She deserved it.
These people are all brain damaged.
It's so easy to say "Hey, Mom, I got the car". It's so easy to say "Hey, gee, maybe missy took the car".
But NO, the mother has to report car stolen. We can imagine what she does when she wakes up in the morning and can't find the rings she took off the night before ~ they made noise clacking together.
15 year old just takes car ~
And full of lethal points. Well under ten pounds is all that is required for a C3-C4 fracture. Punches like those expended by the officer could well be fatal and in the video compelled the other officer to raise his had to stop him.
The deFRenders of the criminal pigs here will rush in to make sure we are advised that "we didn't hear what she might have said" or "we shouldn't pass judgement before we know all the facts," but lemme tell ya...
...I see a filthy swine wearing a badge (or any other criminal) and beating on a 15 year-old girl, and I want 3 minutes alone with the coward scumbag puke.
See how, after choking her from the front on his knees while his tough-guy partner twisted her shoulders out-of-joint while kneeling on her spine (real fun guys, they know all the best tricks, trust me...), he hustled her out of the cell to continue the beating off camera?
Real big, tough men. Human scum who are barely worth the lead. Coward punk asses with badges. They make me sick, and this country was created to keep the people safe from filth like them.
If either of you tough guys lurk here, send me some private email... we'll get together, have a little party. N'Kay?
;-/
Woman tasered several times, then pulled pulled out of squad car and tasered again
Would any rational person as to have a beating?
No.
Who would beat a irrational person asking for a beating?
...eh?
This deputy will be found not guilty or the charges will be dropped.
Once again, people who have never been in a fight or done police work, are looking at a video of police doing their job correctly and passing judgement.
I question why this auto thief was not in handcuffs...if the auto thief had handcuffs on this would not have happened.
My interpretation of what happened is based upon experience and watching the video closely.
I urge everyone watching this to watch it by pausing it repeatedly at the times I point out in this post.
The auto thief is put in cell and she crosses her arms. She flips one shoe off at the deputy and when she starts to do the next one
(Pause) The deputy starts to move to enter the cell to keep her from throwing another shoe at him or his partner.
Note that before he even crosses the threshold, this person, who just was arrested for a felony, has brought her hands up in front of her in a fighting stance.
(Play) She is struck by the deputy who is now defending himself from what he can only reasonbly assume, is her intent to punch him.
She is forced to the back of the cell and then taken to the ground by a hair hold.
Hair hold take downs cause transitory pain and no injury unless you land on your head hard.
The Deputy attempts to get her hands behind her back to handcuff her. She is resisting him trying to get her left arm behind her back. She gets two punches and he repositions his body to her head area.
The left arm then is moved behind her back.
Note the right arm is still beneath her body at this point and she has not made an effort to submit to cuffing with that arm. That is called non-compliance.
The deputy is now, due to his repositioning to a spot above her head area, able to snake his arm under her right arm and put it behind her.
The other half of the cuff is put on her right hand and she is picked up by her arms and her head is controlled by a hair hold.
As someone who has had someone try and spit in your face before, if I see bald head and a non-compliant and aggressive person in cuffs, I put my fingers and thumb under either side of the lower jaw bone and use this to control their ability to turn their head and spit on me.
In this case, she has hair and a fist full of hair is a great means to due this same thing without some lousy grainy camera, or bystander, thinking your trying to choke a handcuffed person when you are just applying pressure behind their jawbone on the adenoids.
The whole case will hinge on that moment before the deputy entered the cell and the auto theif “puts up her dukes”.
Violence ain’t pretty and and cops are allowed to use force for lawful purposes.
That’s not what I saw.
Note in the video that the auto thief “put up her dukes” as the deputy is entering the cell.
He’s not required to wait to be punched before he uses force.
I saw that in person, he'd be eating and pissing through a tube for life. I've got chunks of pukes like him in my stool.
;-/
Well? Which is it?
Anyways, the good thing is the officer got the other shoe he wanted. That's the main thing. Shoe control and all.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.