King County deputy Paul Schene, 31, has been fired over his beating a 15-year-old girl on Nov. 29 incident in a holding cell at SeaTac City Hall. The video below shows a shocking escalation of violence by Schene.

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. It appears that, while trying to take her shoes off, the girl kicked off her left shoe, which struck the deputy in the shin. The video shows Schene going berserk.

The second officer in the video was a trainee and does not appear to participate in the beating.
Notably, Schene was investigated previously for shooting two people in 2002 and 2006 (including killing one person). However, both were found to be justified.

His attorney, Anne Bremner, released a statement that stressed that the videotape leaves a false impression. She opposed the release “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.” The fair trial concern may have merit though it is hard to see how this reaction would be viewed appropriate.

Sgt. John Urquhart of the King County Sheriff’s Office stated “Nobody wants our people to be engaged in this sort of behavior and I think the videotape speaks for itself.” The termination has been upheld and was effective this month. He will go to trial next month on fourth-degree assault next month.

One has to give King County credit for its response. We have seen recently a series of videotaped beatings or false arrests with no discipline, here and here and here and here. In other cases, authorities (as in King County) did bring charges and a jury acquitted the officer, as in the recent Denver case.

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