Police to review officer's actions in videotaped punch
Seattle police will conduct a review of the Monday confrontation in which an officer punched a teenage girl in the face after she shoved him. The incident was captured by a witness on video.
By Craig Welch and Steve Miletich
Seattle Times staff reporters
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Video courtesy of KING 5
Raw video: SPD news conference on June 15
Seattle police will conduct a review of the Monday confrontation in which an officer punched a teenage girl in the face after she shoved him. The incident was captured by a witness on video.
Acting Deputy Chief Nick Metz said during a news conference on Tuesday that the review was not meant as a criticism of the officer's actions, but would examine police training tactics. Metz said the department was withholding judgment on the officer's actions, although he cited concerns about the way the officer handled the incident.
The officer, who was identified by police as Ian P. Walsh, has been placed in the department's training unit so he could review his practices, Metz said.
Metz said the review would not only examine the punch, but the entire situation.
Walsh, 39, joined the department in November 2006, police said.
The video shows the officer trying to control the hands of a 19-year-old woman. A 17-year-old girl appears to try and break his grip. The 17-year-old then pushes the officer away. The officer responds by punching her in the face.
Both were arrested.
Metz said he has discussed the incident with members of Seattle's African-American community. Walsh is white and the woman and girl are both African American.
On Monday, Seattle police spokesman Sean Whitcomb said he had not seen the video, but the officer's report made clear he was trying to gain control of a potentially explosive situation. It developed after the officer saw the two teenagers jaywalking, police said.
A large crowd had gathered in the 3100 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and "I do know we had verbally hostile people at the scene, and at least two people who were being physical," Whitcomb said. "Every officer will handle a situation differently depending on what they see and what they perceive."
Whitcomb said punching is part of the repertoire of techniques officers are taught to use when a situation gets unruly. Police said the officer in this case believed one teenager was "attempting to physically effect the first subject's escape."
Sgt. Rich O'Neill, president of the Seattle Police Officers' Guild, said on Tuesday that the officer acted properly during an escalating situation involving suspects who ignored his orders and then shoved him.
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"The officer had every right to defend himself and use force," O'Neill said. "I didn't see anything that was wrong."
O'Neill said in a crowded situation like the one that confronted the officer there's always a danger of someone taking the officer's weapon.
The two young women were both arrested — one for allegedly obstructing an officer, a gross misdemeanor; the other on investigation of third-degree assault on an officer, a felony.
The arrests come seven weeks after a high-profile incident in which two officers were caught on video kicking and stomping a prone robbery suspect. One officer kicked the man while he was lying on the sidewalk and shouted, "I'm going to beat the [expletive] Mexican piss out of you, homey. You feel me?" Officers later let the man go after they realized he was the wrong person.
Police said Monday's incident began about 3:10 p.m. when the officer was driving north along Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The officer saw an 18-year-old man jaywalk across the busy street about 15 feet from a pedestrian overpass.
After the officer stopped the man, he saw four women jaywalk at the same location and ordered them to come over to his patrol car, police reports say. At that point, the women became verbally antagonistic, and one turned and began walking away, police said.
When the officer approached her and began escorting her back to his car, the report says, she tensed and pulled away, ignoring his order to put her hands on the patrol car. By then, a crowd had gathered.
Police said the officer then began trying to handcuff her.
After the officer punches her, a witness in the crowd can be heard exclaiming "Are you serious? Are you serious?" Another man in the crowd finally pulls the 17-year-old away from the officer.
The officer continues to wrestle with the 19-year-old for a few minutes before finally handcuffing her and placing her in his car. He also later arrested the woman he had punched.
Whitcomb said no one was seriously hurt, and he didn't see anything in the officer's report that would suggest he handled the situation inappropriately.
"Officers are confronted with different situations all the time," Whitcomb said.
Craig Welch: 206-464-2093 or
[email protected]
