Olympia Police Department: September 2004 Use of Force

author : Drew Hendricks topic : police misconduct | TASER use

[Web-site editor's note: The following table does not format well with the software we're using to manage this web-site, but we include it here so search-engines can find this page. Please click on the graphic to see formatting.]

Date Case Number Type of Force Officer

9/4/04 04-6759 Draw and Direct Herbig

9/4/04 04-6759 Draw and Direct Gassett (Rifle)

9/4/04 04-6759 TASER Shot Hovda

9/4/04 04-6759 TASER Shot Gassett

9/7/04 04-6810 Draw and Direct Jordan

9/10/04 04-6909 Bite and Hold Conan (Police Dog)

9/10/04 04-6909 TASER Shot , Missed Hinrichs

9/10/04 04-6909 Gooseneck Wrist Samuelson

9/11/04 04-6922 TASER Shot Pearce

9/11/04 04-6922 TASER Contact Gassett

Gassett used a Contact TASE to the person's left thigh to get them into a car, after they were already handcuffed.

9/15/04 04-7046 Palm Strike to Chest Gassett

9/17/04 04-7097 Draw and Direct Henry

9/17/04 04-7097 Prisoner Fell to Ground Rick Smith

A man fell to the ground as he stepped out of the car inside the OPD Sally Port, while Rick Smith was looking the other way and speaking to someone else. Jail camera surveillance was used to verify Smith's story.

9/19/04 04-7125 TASER Pointed Duncan

9/19/04 04-7125 Hair Hold Duncan

9/19/04 04-7125 TASER Contact Hinrichs

9/20/04 04-7166 Draw and Direct Herbig

9/20/04 04-7166 TASER Pointed Bakala

9/24/04 04-7266 TASER Pointed Gassett

9/24/04 04-7266 TASER Shot Gassett

9/24/04 04-7266 TASER Jolt (2nd) Gassett

The same person was jolted after being shot with the TASER. Jolts last 5 seconds when the TASER is fired and as long as the officer holds the trigger -- up to five seconds -- after the TASER is already fired.

9/25/04 04-7332 Hair Hold Wilson

9/25/04 04-7332 Taken to Ground Wilson

9/25/04 04-7332 Knee in Back Jordan

9/27/04 04-7351 TASER Shot Jordan (TASER Serial reported as P2-008432)

9/27/04 04-7375 Draw and Direct Smith

9/27/04 04-7375 Draw and Direct Renschler

9/27/04 04-7375 Draw and Direct Henry (Rifle)

9/30/04 04-7462 Arm Bar Hold Heinze

9/30/04 04-7462 Wrist Hold Evers

9/30/04 04-7462 TASER Pointed Heinze

9/30/04 04-7462 TASER Contact Heinze

9/30/04 04-7462 Violent Chair Heinze, Evers, Hovda, Wojtech, Amos, Crumpton

The Violent Chair is a chair with restraints into which police sometimes place uncooperative prisoners. The Chair is attached to the person's wrists, legs, and waist.

The records for this information are called Supervisor's Checklists. Olympia Copwatch requests these documents so we can get an idea of how many times force is being used and what types of force are being used. The reports are brief summaries, and do not include statements from the persons on whom the force is used. Olympia Copwatch is not given the names of the persons -- other than police officers -- named in the reports. We do not know whether the listed cases represent all uses of force by the Olympia Police Department -- only that it is likely that we have all of the cases reported to police management. If you notice that a case is not listed here, you should call Olympia Copwatch at 870-3127 and state that you might have an unreported case.

The case numbers listed indicate that at least 553 cases were opened in September of 2004. The cases in which force was reported (13) represent a small fraction of the case numbers assigned, and an even smaller fraction of the contacts police had with the public. Most of the time, it is the threat of force which gains compliance, rather than the application of force.