Reacting to the online release of a video that shows a young man being Tased in the city jail, Sitka city officials on Wednesday expressed confidence in the Sitka Police Department, and said that the incident resulted in minor changes in department policy after it occurred a little over one year ago.<\/p>\n
City Administrator Mark Gorman called a news conference Wednesday with Sitka police chief Sheldon Schmitt and Planning and Community Development director Maegan Bosak to reassure the public that they are \u201ctaking the matter very seriously.\u201d <\/p>\n
Schmitt and Gorman said they have been receiving a number of calls from people questioning the use of force and use of a Taser on the man in custody.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the video came out we received a lot of calls, which is good. We want the feedback, negative or positive,\u201d Schmitt said, \u201cAnd, of course, there\u2019s a lot more to the story here than just what you\u2019re seeing on the video.\u201d<\/p>\n
The video, taken shortly after midnight on Sept. 6, 2014, was filmed on closed circuit cameras at the city jail. Posted to YouTube last week, the footage shows Franklin Hoogendorn, then 18, being escorted into the police station by two officers who lead him down a corridor. The next section of the video shows the inside of the cell, where three officers are struggling with Hoogendorn.<\/p>\n
Hoogendorn resists having his clothes removed, and after several minutes one of the officers Tasers Hoogendorn on the leg.<\/p>\n
Schmitt noted that the video does not show what occurred previously, when Hoogendorn was detained outside a downtown bar. In the criminal complaint related to the arrest, officers allege that Hoogendorn was verbally and physically confrontational with Sgt. Daniel Dozois, at one point attempting to run away. He was ultimately charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, minor consuming and two other charges related to being drunk and underage in a bar. All five charges were dismissed by the prosecutor in March. <\/p>\n
\u201cChief Schmitt informed me about this event shortly after it happened 14 months ago,\u201d Gorman said at the news conference. \u201cHe assured me that protocols were followed, that it was investigated and that corrective actions were taken.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he did not see the video until this week, but that when he saw it, \u201cit was exactly how Sheldon described it to me.\u201d <\/p>\n
In response to the public\u2019s concern, the police chief has asked Alaska State Troopers to review the incident.<\/p>\n
Responding to press inquiries after the video became public, Schmitt said it was a situation that could have been handled better, but it still fit within department policies and procedures.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have policies guiding use of force in general \u2014 everything from putting your hands on people to using handcuffs to using what we call less-lethal munitions like a Taser or OC spray,\u201d Schmitt said. <\/p>\n
In the video, all three officers forcefully disrobe Hoogendorn, and the video ends with the teenager lying face down on a mat in his undershorts, not moving. The chief said in an unedited version of the video Hoogendorn later turns over and reclines with his hands behind his head. <\/p>\n
The actual procedure, Schmitt said, is to strip search prisoners and provide them with jail-issued clothing. <\/p>\n
\u201cRoutinely, people are brought in and they\u2019re not combative or drunk. Most people are compliant and they\u2019re put behind a screen where they\u2019re allowed to take off their clothes themselves, and they\u2019re searched at that time by somebody of the same sex and then they\u2019re allowed to put on our clothes,\u201d he said, referring to the jail-issued clothes. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s for safety reasons and for searching reasons. We\u2019ve had people try to hang themselves with their own clothes or stuff up toilets or that kind of stuff,\u201d Schmitt continued.<\/p>\n
The chief also cited concerns about contraband being smuggled in, which he said has happened a number of times this year. What is less common, however, is the use of a Taser by the officers in the jail. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe think we\u2019ve had 8-10 Tasings in 10 years, so about one annually. It doesn\u2019t happen a lot,\u201d Schmitt said. <\/p>\n
After the incident with Hoogendorn last year, Schmitt said he counseled the officers as to what they could have done differently. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re trying to get him to comply,\u201d he said of the video footage. \u201cI can tell you it\u2019s not comfortable to watch. Having been a police officer and being involved in lots of scuffles myself, I immediately go, \u2018Well, gee, they could have done this or they could have done that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Specifically, Schmitt said, he would have done a cursory search and then allowed the prisoner to calm down before moving ahead with the strip search. <\/p>\n
While at Mt. Edgecumbe, Hoogendorn was on the varsity wrestling squad, competing in the state tournament in the 145 pound weight class. Asked if Hoogendorn\u2019s intoxication and training as a wrestler could have led him to resist instinctively, Schmitt said he believes it was \u201cabsolutely\u201d a factor. <\/p>\n
Schmitt said he understands the instincts of a wrestler who is being restrained. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wrestled for seven years and I definitely resort to my wrestling background in any type of conflict I\u2019m in,\u201d Shmitt said. <\/p>\n
The city\u2019s primary response to the release of the video has been to be \u201copen with the public,\u201d Gorman said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to have a discussion with you all,\u201d Gorman said at the outset of his press conference. The session, conducted in Gorman\u2019s office at city hall, was attended by reporters from the Sentinel and Sitka radio stations KIFW and KCAW. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe as a community are concerned and disturbed by what we saw on the video,\u201d the administrator said. \u201cIt\u2019s critically important to have confidence in our police department. We want to move forward in a transparent way and be available.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schmitt said they couldn\u2019t release or discuss the video at the time of the incident because of the active criminal investigation. Even when the case was closed in March, he saw no reason to bring the information forward. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always tried, I have, to be open with the press. To be proactive. I don\u2019t know if I would change or try to proactively release that. That doesn\u2019t make a lot of sense to me,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The video was posted last week on YouTube and has received thousands of hits. Schmitt said he didn\u2019t know how the closed circuit video taken by police came to be released. In addition to having the state troopers investigate what happened in the jail cell, Gorman said the city is looking to rebuild trust with the community. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to prove to the community that we\u2019re worthy of their trust,\u201d Gorman said. <\/p>\n
Gorman also said the city is taking seriously the fact that Hoogendorn, who is from Koyuk, is a young Alaska Native. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a national spotlight on this issue. The fact that it was a young Native male is concerning,\u201d Gorman said. \u201cWe certainly want to be sensitive to that as well. Anybody looking at that video can\u2019t come away without questions and feeling a little disturbed, or a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reacting to the online release of a video that shows a young man being Tased in the city jail, Sitka city officials on Wednesday expressed confidence in the Sitka Police Department, and said that the incident resulted in minor changes in department policy after it occurred a little over one year ago. City Administrator Mark […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":28678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-28677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28677"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=28677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}