"I was afraid of being injured by her," said fired King County sheriff's Deputy Paul Schene during testimony Tuesday. Schene's on trial for misdemeanor assault.
The proximate cause of his fear? Malika Calhoun, the 15-year-old girl Schene kicked, manhandled and punched before lifting her by the hair in a secure holding cell on November 29, 2008. Any cop watching the tape of the incident knows the teen posed no bona fide threat to the 6 feet 2 inch, 210-pound former Army Ranger.
Did the girl commit a crime by flicking off her sneaker (Schene had ordered her to remove her shoes), which glanced harmlessly off the deputy's shin? Probably not--she claims, convincingly, that she wasn't aiming the shoe at Schene. But she was guilty of "contempt of cop."
Contempt of cop is a statute you'll not find in any state's penal code but which accounts for a substantial number of skinny or false arrests charging other, more justifiable-sounding violations: disturbing the peace, assault and battery, resisting or obstructing a police officer.
For some law enforcers, police work is not merely what they do, it is who they are. They've come to embody, literally, the vital but limited authority they've been granted in law. Any attack, verbal or physical, becomes an assault not only against the uniform but against the corporeal and psychological identity of the person who wears it.
In closing arguments yesterday, Schene's attorney, Peter Offenbecher, described his client's actions as a "textbook example" of how to take someone into custody. He said Schene acted like a "true professional," conveniently leaving out the part about the grownup and the kid trading escalating insults before the lawman deposited Calhoun in the cell.
Textbook example? True professional? False on both counts, of course. Yet, if I were Schene's attorney I'd do everything I could to cast the deputy in the most positive light, to work hard for his acquittal. But I'm not the man's lawyer, and since what we see in that tape shows zero justifiable provocation for Schene's actions, it's galling to listen to what Offenbecher had to say next.
He asked the jury to let other would-be sneaker-flingers know that it's "not open season on police officers in King County."
His comment appears to have been a thinly veiled reference to the tragic slayings of six Western Washington police officers since October 31. The remark was over the top. If Schene walks because a jury, understandably appalled and heartbroken over the deaths of all those police officers, equates a teenage girl, half the size of Schene, and her flippantly flipped sneaker, with three bloodthirsty, pistol packing cop killers, we all lose.
Nothing justifies an unprovoked attack, lethal or otherwise on a police officer. Nothing.
But when cops behave the way Schene did, when they take such deep personal offense at the slightest slight they invite disrespect, from allies as well as critics--including enraged or otherwise unhinged individuals whose mission is to avenge real or perceived injustices at the hands of local police.
Police work is demanding, dangerous and delicate. As the deputy prosecutor, Gary Ernsdorff told the jury, "There is a reason we have adults" serving as police officers.
Follow Norm Stamper on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CopsSayLegalize
Why would you assume that Malika Calhoun was not a threat to the officer? She was defiant, non compliant had threatened the officers and had a long criminal history for a 15 year old. She is capable of scratching, jabbing, kicking in the groin.
What has size or gender got to do with anything? People Malika’s size with fighting skills, whether trained formally (such as Karate) or informally (such as street fighting), generally can do great damage very quickly seemingly far out of proportion to their size. Eyes, groin, throat, knees, temple are all weak spots that skilled fighters know to target and those targets hurt no matter what your size is.
Norm, would you have had a different opinion of the event if a person kicking shoes at officer Schene was 250 pounds and 6’ 5’’ and Schene took him down the same way? Why would that be any different in principle?
Perhaps you might also want to consider some things other than size and gender - like the responsibilities of an adult vs a juvenile, a trained professional vs a kid. I "assume" you have never parented a teenager. You don't get to beat the crap out of them every time they are "lippy."
This teenager -- one in hundreds, every day, across America -- was brutalized by a cop. That he was not attacked or threatened is visible on tape. And as in every other instance of a cop harming a citizen, he will go unpunished.
Policemen run down pedestrians, shoot black men in the back, belt cripples into chairs so tightly their necks break, r@pe prisoners, suffocate the mentally ill in front of witnesses begging them to stop, beat children, commit perjury, threaten witnesses and show their utter contempt for civilized behavior and the laws of our nation. In the 1980's, no intelligent woman in SoCal pulled over for a cop in a deserted area. There wasn't a risk of abuse -- there was a probability. And it's done with the blessing of police superiors, courts and politicians.
They are a necessary evil -- but make no mistake. They are indeed, as a self-protecting and lawless vigilante organization, truly
Several years ago, a friend lost her son on Broadway, just two blocks from her home. He was having an emotional breakdown, and had called to let her know he was coming. The b,eat cop, who weighed more than twice as much as her son, pinned the sobbing young man to the edge of the sidewalk and literally pressed him to death.
The cop, who had previously been identified as dangerous to citizens, is still working. The last time Jan saw him -- he winked at her. She killed herself last year.
You were a good influence on an entire city. So who is influencing the now?
Thank you for your kind words about my time in Seattle, the "riot" notwithstanding.
I do want to note that there are criminal justice leaders who refuse to accept police misconduct. They've shown their willingness to fire and/or prosecute brutal, bigoted or corrupt cops. Which is not to say there aren't chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors who shrink from their duty. It happens, too often. And, too often, there is no accountability for these failures. (Which argues for citizen review, with teeth, in every political jurisdiction in the country.)
I understand your view on the killing of Maurice Clemmons, the man who shot to death those four Lakewood officers. But I disagree with your conclusion, shared, as you point out, by several other skeptical readers. Seattle police officer Benjamin Kelly did not "murder" Clemmons. Let me put it this way: If I'd encountered the known killer of four cops, who approached me in the middle of the night; who, despite my order to halt continued to advance; who refused my demand to show his hands; and who reached for the very gun he'd taken from the Lakewood murder scene I would have stopped him in his tracks.
The fact is a man named Jahal Perez was shot to death, in early 2004, in a routine traffic stop (I';ve reported this to the FBI, of course), the day after he offered me 'Free Crack' (which I don't smoke) in Portlands Waterfront Park; then, when I went back to the shelter I was living in, a skinhead from Texas said to me - out of the blue - "Yeah, that N-word deserved to get shot."
In addition, I was made homeless right after Jessica Williams was raped, slashed open, and set on fire with lighter fluid - by an LA Cops Son! - under our Steel Bridge; circuitously accused of 'growing Pot for the Thantos Streety Familly' - who said that I'd 'ordered that narc killed'.
That's what I mean, Norm Stamper.
I've liked you ever since you first became police chief in Seattle when I was living in Bellevue, and I've long been a proponent of respecting police and the authority which comes with their job, but if a police officer had done this to my child, I'd be in prison for first degree murder.... When my younger daughter was arrested for shoplifting, I punished her, but I also spent an hour and a half screaming at the police officer who locked her to a water drain pole in the station for three hours while he debated which set of paperwork he was going to do first.....
This would have sent me to the local pawn shop for a gun, and reminded me of all my military training...
What WE want to do is to get the government, which AVERAGES better than private industry for benevolence, to take over those portions of our world where benevolence is more important than profit, such as police, military, air traffic control, and health care.
I offer that the harmless teenager spin is a false characterization of the potential risk to the officer. She threatened the officers, Schene's partner stated that he was concerned about Malika "acting out physically" due to her verbal aggression and she did assault the officer and stated in a CBS TV interview not only did she hit him on purpose and was intent on kicking the other shoe was well.
From my personal experience it is fighting skill and attitude that will nearly always trump size and strength.
I was about Malika's size (5 8) and weight (130) when I was 19 - I was lanky and very weak looking for a male. But I had 2 years of very intense martial arts trainiging and was capable of doing great damage to people much bigger than me: I took out two muggers in less than 2 seconds who were 4-5 inches taller than me and one out weighed me by 100+ pounds.
How was the officer to know Malika did not have some fighting skills? I think you have to assume that if someone is putting you at risk and attacking you/...sort of a worst case analysis.