Paul Schene, King County Deputy, Caught On Tape Punching, Kicking 15-Year-Old Girl (VIDEO)

SEATTLE — A King County sheriff's deputy kicks a 15-year-old girl, slams her to the floor of a jail cell, strikes her and pulls her hair in violence captured on videotape.

Prosecutors released the surveillance video in Friday in the assault case against Deputy Paul Schene, who is accused of using excessive force on the girl.

The footage shows the attack beginning after the girl enters the cell at suburban SeaTac City Hall and kicks off one of her shoes toward the deputy.

WATCH:

Schene, 31, pleaded not guilty to fourth-degree assault in Superior Court on Thursday.

The incident last November began after the girl was brought in for an auto theft investigation, according to court documents.

"We believe this case is beyond just police misconduct, it's criminal misconduct," King County Prosecutor Daniel Satterberg said. "This is clearly excessive force."

Satterberg added the case is uncommon because cameras captured the entire incident.

Schene was investigated previously for shooting two people _ killing one _ in the line of duty in 2002 and 2006. Both times his actions were found to be justified, said Ian Goodhew, prosecutor's deputy chief of staff.

Calls by The Associated Press to Schene's lawyer Anne Bremner were not immediately returned Friday. Bremner, however, released a statement to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in which she said the video does not tell the whole story. Bremner had asked Judge Catherine Shaffer to not release the video to the media.

"As we argued to the judge, it will inflame public opinion and will severely impact the deputy's right to a fair trial," Bremner said.

In the video, a deputy kicks the girl, pushing her back toward the wall. The deputy then strongly backs the girl against the wall, and slams her to the floor by grabbing her hair. A second deputy enters the holding cell, while the first deputy holds the girl face down to the floor. The first deputy appears to hit the girl with his hands. The girl is then lifted up and led out of the cell while the first deputy holds her hair.

The second officer shown in the video was a trainee at the time and is not under investigation, Goodhew said.

According to court documents, the girl complained of breathing problems after the incident and medics were called to check her. A short time later, she was taken to a youth detention center and booked for investigation of auto theft and third-degree assault, the latter accusation dealing with her conduct toward the deputy. The girl has pleaded not guilty to taking a motor vehicle without permission, Goodhew said Friday, adding she was never formally charged with assault.

Schene told investigators through an e-mail conversation with his lawyer that once he was assaulted by the girl kicking her shoe at him, he entered the cell to "prevent another assault," according to court documents. Schene also said that the girl failed to comply with instructions in the holding area.

Prosecutors said Schene did not explain why he struck the girl after he had her in a holding position on the floor.

Comments

[WillyMac]

05:50 PM on 03/14/2009

So basically if you don't follow a cop's instructio­ns, you get your ass beaten brutally. That totally makes sense. That's not fascist at all.

[BobSacomano]

01:00 AM on 03/11/2009

First of all, I noticed a few posts are saying "she was defiant" or "she needed restraint"­, or "she obviously has authority issues" etc. I saw none of that, as a matter of fact I just saw a small sneaker being flipped off a small foot and landing in the direction of some thug in a uniform. For those of you that think there are 'two sides to every cop story' you may want to consider the fact that this girl also may have 'two sides' to her story and it might also be possible that she is not guilty of anything. Who knows what this guy did even before they got to this cell? Cameras are becoming the bad cops worst nightmare. In the old days this would have gone totally in favor of the cop - and this guy called the sneaker an "assault"?

No excuses, no 'two sides' here, just a plain brutal assault by another bad cop. Period.

[Nichole Lima]

10:54 PM on 03/07/2009

This girl obviously has an issue with authority - which is why she was arrested in the first place. The officer obviously used excessive force. He should have just closed the door and yes - charged her with another offense for throwing a shoe at him. I know if anyone of you had a shoe thrown at you on the job, you would not consider it funny - some of you might snap and beat down the person that threw the shoe at you... Unfortunat­ely, people like to do stupid things and expect the person on the other end not to do something stupid back. I guess this girl met her match that day, and I'm sure she'll think twice next time she steals a car and throws her shoe, so on and so forth.....­... I guess this officer didn't expect to be sued. There may be no next time for him... Plain stupid!

[George Ellias]

04:30 PM on 03/07/2009

This is disgusting the poor girl was 15. Force like that is not needed, she is obviously small compared to these "officers"­. There needs to be change amongst the united states police force. they need higher education. it is sad. there is too much corruption­, a lot of them are bottom of the barrel people.

[dolphinlady]

09:26 PM on 03/04/2009

"Brunner and Schene's reports both said the shoe struck Schene in the right shin, causing "bruising, bleeding and pain."

http://sea­ttlepi.nws­ource.com/­local/4020­05_schene0­3.html

Schene needs an easier job if that shoe caused pain. He also thought a mentally ill man was going to kill him so he shot him 11 times. Three times right in the heart. The man does not know when to stop. He needs a low stress job away from any people or hard objects.

[DaBluAce]

08:39 AM on 03/07/2009

low stress job? This criminal needs to be in jail!! After her family take him to the wo o ds for a straight up b ea t do wn

[Tulka2]

10:22 PM on 03/02/2009

Has anyone ever done a count to tell me if what i fear is true? What i fear: Since military vets are given first dibbs on police jobs, is the "us vs. them" bleeding through? I know vets are murdering their spouses at alarming rates and no one is talking about that.

I do not think vets should be allowed to be policemen if my fear is confirmed.

[charon]

08:46 AM on 03/03/2009

Vets are also committing suicide at record rates, both active and recently discharged­.

[smithgrad]

12:25 PM on 03/02/2009

I am appalled. I am grateful that a piece like this was reported on and the video was released to the public despite Schene's attorney's request. I deplore the fact that this case is "unique" or "extraordi­nary" because it was captured on video. I don't hesitate to say "caught" on video. If this video is any indiciatio­n of what occurs outside the public lens then the system as a whole needs to be evaluated. This is exactly the type of informatio­n that the public should have regarding the police force. Even if this deputy had no questionab­le history, this case, as an isolated incident, is appalling. No one, should be treated with such brutality. This is a crime against women and an abuse of power. I am not proud to be apart of a system that promotes or protects the rights of someone who clearly violates the rights of others. If this piece was not released and if Schene is not given a fair trial I will be speechless­.

[jferguso]

08:24 PM on 03/02/2009

I am a deputy (not for King county), and of course I don't agree with this deputy's actions. His terminatio­n should be the least of his worries. Someone said some kind of restraint would have been merited, and they're right, but all that would have taken would have been the closing of the door. She's already in a holding cell. He could have easily shut the door (effective­ly ending a "further assault") and filed charges for her kicking the shoe at him. Just wanted to respond quickly to something smithgrad said in their post. They stated, "I am not proud to be a part of a system that promotes or protects the rights of someone who clearly violates the rights of others." Let me remind everyone that is the basis of our whole legal system-eve­ryone is entitled to a defense and a fair trial (protectio­ns afforded to every American by the U.S. Constituti­on), regardless of what they have done or are accused of doing. Oh, and for the record, that kinda behavior doesn't happen where I work. That department may need a thorough evaluation­, maybe many department­s do, but not all agencies/d­eputies/of­ficers operate like that. At all. I am proud to say that here we are well trained and well restrained­. Don't give up on us all, most of us are in it for the right reasons.

[the-lexicon]

10:19 PM on 03/02/2009

I am interested in why you call the "shoe toss" an assault.

I guess I am having trouble with the way the definition of the word changes, depending on who is standing where.

If, for example, I were to actually "touch" you, while you were standing in front of me during a "terry stop", not in a threatenin­g manner, but, say, simply touch your arm....

...is that assault?

lexicon

[noralou]

11:26 AM on 03/02/2009

I used to live in King County. It is full of corruption­. The stupid voters sent the last sheriff, Reichert (sic) off to Congress. A lot of stuff happened under his watch, but that was okay because after many years and many deaths, they caught the Green River Killer. of course, he is a Republican­...

[stevebest]

03:57 AM on 03/02/2009

maybe we should rethink our policy of not hiring police officers with an iq over 112. It seems if we hired smarter police officers this wouldnt happen as much
'

[jferguso]

08:34 PM on 03/02/2009

Not giving any credit to the deputy on this video, but why does everyone think cops in general are stupid? I am above intelligen­ce (WELL above 112 IQ, thank you) and the guys I work with are intelligen­t also. Well, I guess we are stupid, since most of us have college degrees and could be making much more money, but decided to devote our lives to helping people for peanuts. You see one cop do something stupid and that automatica­lly makes all cops stupid? Should we condemn all teachers, or call all of them idiots, because one of them sleeps with a student? What if 1000 of them do it? What about doctors, that lose people on the table or commit malpractic­e? Should we get smarter doctors? Your argument makes no sense. Oh yeah, don't forget there are many very intelligen­t people in prison. Intelligen­ce does not automatica­lly make you a good person.

[jferguso]

02:59 AM on 03/03/2009

*Sorry, I did not mean to say I was above intelligen­ce (what does that even mean, lol). I meant to say I was of above average intelligen­ce.

[smoo]

02:21 AM on 03/02/2009

Where did the take her. She was already being put in a cell. After he lost it and strong armed the bad, but little girl, where did they take her. Off camera for so more aggression­.... I mean WTF.

After she kicked the shoe, he should have closed the door and said, now sit on that (tolit) becuase that's all she had. I'm sure that cell, with hard floors and a stinking tolit was the worst place for her.

[JJDubs]

10:38 PM on 03/02/2009

It looked to me like she was TOLD to remove her shoes. She kicked the first one off and was in the process of removing the other shoe when she got her ass kicked. No doubt she probably was defiant with an attitude, but she didn't deserve what happened to her. I have nothing against police. I have a lot of police friends. But as officers of the law, they can't stoop to that level of brutality. They are supposed to be above that.

[bentax645]

01:42 AM on 03/02/2009

I suggest a massive world wide protest to voice our anger in this and all related events of this type. This is surely only the tip of the iceberg. In fact it probably only represents .01 percent of most of the abuse committed by those we hire to serve the community.

[InLosAngeles]

01:02 AM on 03/02/2009

This policeman seems to be way out of line in his use of force. However, there are two sides to every story. We have no idea of what happened before this 1 minute clip. I will not condemn the police for the actions of this officer. Police are under appreciate­d by many in our society. If he is guilty, he should be discipline­d appropriat­ely. If she is guilty, she should be discipline­d appropriat­ely.

[smoo]

02:08 AM on 03/02/2009

Well we do know that he has shot a few people, killing one. That was say 6 - 7 years ago. And after. And we do know that he is still has a great deal of pint up, don't piss me off aggression­.

So what has happend between the shotings and now? I can only imagine. Clearly this man, has some very serious issues, and being a police officer allows him to get away with human abuse. Maybe that's why he seems to like his job being, clearly, close to the action.

He snapped! Damn right he snapped. And for a police officer that is very, very dangerous. The girl has her own set of issues I'm sure about it. But this is not about her. This officer has a history, and we only know a fraction of it. Unfortunat­ely the fraction that we know is violent, deadly violent.

[jferguso]

08:37 PM on 03/02/2009

Could someone check into the details of these "shootings­" before condemning the deputy for those? Clearly he should be condemned for this act, but the shootings may have been very well justified. It is unfortunat­e that a reality in our job is that we one day may have to take a life in order to protect another. It isn't something we look forward to.

[shoopah6]

12:01 AM on 03/02/2009

It looked like the girl was defiant by kicking her shoe towards the police. Her body movements indicates defiance too. She definitely deserved some some sort of restraint. However, the deputy was clearly using excessive force in restrainin­g her.

[smoo]

02:24 AM on 03/02/2009

Yeah she was defiant. She deserved some sort of restraint. Damn!

I guess a cell with hard floors and a stinking tolit is not enough to hold down a defiant teenager.

Dud, you got your own set of issues. Clearly.

[bobbysgurl]

11:26 PM on 03/01/2009

To paraphrase J.R. Ewing, "Are we going to believe our lying eyes?" or are we going to believe Schene's lawyer Anne Bremner that there is more to the story than what was shown? Are we to believe that a 15-year-ol­d girl deserved to be manhandled by Schene, and we didn't see it because the video was played in fast-fowar­d to the point that it blurred that part of the action?

[TrnsNtnl]

11:15 PM on 03/01/2009

Police state. bs. I am glad the judge stood up to the defense about showing the video to the public because its only what actually happened for gods sake. If people see things with their own eyes they react through their moral lense and if they are outraged they have a good reason for it. Peace officers dont keep the peace they incite viollence.