COP BEATS 15 YEAR OLD GIRL

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Security video shows deputy's alleged assault on girl, 15

Story Published: Feb 27, 2009 at 12:12 PM PST

Story Updated: Feb 27, 2009 at 6:29 PM PST

By KOMO Staff

LINK TO VIDEO
http://www.komonews.com/home/video/40437097.html?video=pop&t=a


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.

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Seattle Post-Intelligencer
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/402103_schene04.html

This video, compiled from footage shot by different security cameras, is updated since the original footage was released last week. It shows the sequence of events in and around the holding cell, including a hallway perspective of the shoe being kicked in the direction of the deputies.

Federal prosecutors investigating deputy

Civil rights inquiry follows taped beating

Last updated March 3, 2009 10:49 p.m. PT

By PAUL SHUKOVSKY AND LEWIS KAMB
P-I REPORTERS

Federal prosecutors have launched a civil rights investigation of a King County sheriff's deputy who was shown on a videotape beating a 15-year-old girl in a holding cell after she kicked a tennis shoe at his legs.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Harris said the release Friday of a video that shows the November beating prompted prosecutors to launch the inquiry. "It (the video) definitely drives home the fact that we need to look at it," he said.

The video shows Deputy Paul Schene rushing into the cell and slamming Malika Calhoun against the wall, throwing her facedown to the floor and punching her before lifting her to her feet by her hair and leading her out of the cell.

If Schene is prosecuted and found guilty of depriving Calhoun of her civil rights while acting in his official capacity, he could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Harris said.

Schene and a rookie deputy who was present during the beating, Travis Brunner, asserted in a report that the tennis shoe -- seen in the video flying off the girl's foot -- struck Schene's shin and caused "bruising, bleeding and pain." They sought third-degree assault charges against the teenager.

Instead Schene, 31, is facing a misdemeanor assault charge and is on administrative leave. He pleaded not guilty to the charge. The Sheriff's Office is conducting an internal investigation of the incident, which could result in disciplinary actions separate from any criminal sanctions.

Harris wouldn't comment on whether Brunner also is the subject of the federal civil rights investigation.

Calhoun was arrested in November on an auto theft charge, which is being processed in King County Juvenile Court.

FBI Special Agent Robbie Burroughs said the bureau has opened a preliminary inquiry into the incident. "We will gather the basic facts of the incident and forward it to the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice," she said.

Schene is among more than a half-dozen King County sheriff's deputies who have been federally investigated for excessive force and other issues in recent years. Several of those inquiries were opened after the Seattle P-I exposed details about misconduct allegations against the officers. Across the country, the FBI has pursued fewer such investigations of alleged police wrongdoing because the Bush administration transferred thousands of agents to counterterrorism duties.

Recent investigations against the Sherriff's Office include:

# Civil rights and perjury allegations against Deputy Brian Bonnar. In late 2008, a federal jury acquitted Bonnar of civil rights violations and four counts of perjury after a woman he arrested and several fellow officers accused him of using excessive force during a 2005 arrest. His indictment represented the first time in well over a decade that a federal grand jury had brought charges against an officer for such "color of law" violations.

# Allegations of civil rights violations against Denny Gulla: In 2004, Gulla, a 23-year veteran and the subject of a number of misconduct accusations, drew a federal inquiry when he pulled over the husband of his lover on a bogus traffic stop and threatened to kill him. Despite a recommendation from an FBI supervisor that the case go forward, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division declined to prosecute, saying Gulla already had been punished administratively by superiors.

# Dan Ring: The former intelligence detective, who cut a deal with the King County sheriff and prosecutors that allowed him to escape state prosecution for a felony charge and three misdemeanors, drew an investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI after the P-I exposed details about his case. Federal authorities said they were examining whether federal criminal charges should have been filed against Ring; as of Tuesday, none had been.

# Civil rights violations accusations against Joseph Abreu III, Bruce Matthews and Garrett Jorgensen: In February 2002, Sherry Reynolds, a software consultant and former volunteer firefighter, filed a formal complaint against three officers, whom she witnessed violently handle a homeless man outside a grocery store. After she filed the complaint, Reynolds was charged with obstruction of justice. The FBI opened a preliminary investigation into the deputies. Local agents felt they had a strong case, but the Department of Justice declined to prosecute.

P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com.

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