{"id":4460,"date":"2016-06-06T19:28:41","date_gmt":"2016-06-07T02:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/no-word-yet-from-fbi-in-sitka-taser-probe\/"},"modified":"2016-06-06T19:28:41","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T02:28:41","slug":"no-word-yet-from-fbi-in-sitka-taser-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/no-word-yet-from-fbi-in-sitka-taser-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"No word yet from FBI in Sitka Taser probe"},"content":{"rendered":"

SITKA \u2014 <\/strong>The Sitka Police Department is still waiting for results of an FBI investigation launched nearly seven months ago into the use of force by three Sitka officers in a 2014 tasing incident.<\/p>\n

Sitka Police Chief Sheldon Schmitt requested the investigation following the online release of a video<\/a> that showed officers restraining and repeatedly tasing Franklin Hoogendorn, a Mt. Edgecumbe High student at the time, while he was in custody in the Sitka jail.<\/p>\n

The FBI got involved on Nov. 16 at the request of Alaska State Troopers. Shortly after the video was released on YouTube, Schmitt had asked the troopers to review the police department\u2019s actions during the arrest.<\/p>\n

[FBI will take lead in Sitka Taser probe<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

The City and Borough of Sitka addressed the civil matter with Hoogendorn by way of a $350,000 settlement in February, but there has yet to be a response from the FBI or Alaska State Troopers.<\/p>\n

Schmitt recently told the Sentinel the police department has been sending investigators all of the information they\u2019ve requested.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had gotten a subpoena for all the documents several weeks ago,\u201d Schmitt said, referring to an emailed subpoena received by police with a deadline of April 19.<\/p>\n

The final items submitted included emails related to the incident, records of training, officers records, and records on the particular Taser police had used.<\/p>\n

The chief said he didn\u2019t understand why the department was given a subpoena for records, when it had made everything available that had been requested in connection to the incident when the FBI was here in December. He asked the FBI investigators the same question.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes it more official, more legal \u2014 that\u2019s what they told me,\u201d Schmitt said.<\/p>\n

He said he had hoped that the review or investigation would\u2019ve been concluded by now, but he\u2019s in unfamiliar territory. He said he doesn\u2019t know how long such an investigation takes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have any experience with this,\u201d Schmitt said. \u201cI\u2019ve been surprised by everything to do with this investigation. At this point I don\u2019t know, I would certainly like to get it over with, and have closure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Specifically, Schmitt said, he called for the review to see what could have been done differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I asked them for specifically was to take a look at the Hoogendorn incident, to see if we had done anything wrong, to see if we handled it correctly or not,\u201d Schmitt said. \u201cIt didn\u2019t take long for them to respond … They said the FBI was going to assist, and the FBI came down to investigate the tasing incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Sitka officials talk about leaked jail video<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Richard Vanveldhuisen, with the FBI Division Council in Anchorage, told the Sentinel this week the investigation is being done jointly with the troopers, and there\u2019s no timeline for cases like these.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still an ongoing investigation. They\u2019re still in the evidence-gathering stage,\u201d Vanveldhuisen said.<\/p>\n

Hoogendorn, an Alaska Native, was 18 at the time of the incident. A day after it was announced that the FBI was taking over the investigation, the Sitka Tribe of Alaska sent a letter to the FBI concerning the tasing case. The letter, written by Tribal Council Chairman Michael Baines, alleges a history of prejudice in the Sitka Police Department against tribal citizens and asks that the tribe be included in the investigation.<\/p>\n

Baines said he met with an agent to discuss the case, as did other tribal citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey came and talked to me for a little while and then they also talked to other tribal citizens who had contacted them on their own, I guess,\u201d Baines said. \u201cWe had a pretty good talk and they seemed receptive to my comments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schmitt said the troopers have brought the FBI in on other investigations in Alaska, including an investigation of excessive use of force, in Kodiak.<\/p>\n

He said the FBI will advise the city when it has concluded its investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said when they completed it, they would release something,\u201d Schmitt said.<\/p>\n

City Administrator Mark Gorman said staff has been responding to requests from investigators as they come in and the city is hoping to learn as much as they can.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want them to complete their investigation and we look forward to receiving their report. This was a very, very serious incident in the history of our police department and we are taking it seriously and await what the FBI has to say on it,\u201d Gorman said.<\/p>\n

The actual tasing incident occurred in the fall of 2014. Hoogendorn was detained on alcohol-related charges and the Sitka Police Department video from the jail cell showed him being stripped by two officers and the Sitka jailer. Hoogendorn was resisting, and one of the officers repeatedly tased Hoogendorn in the leg. That officer left the department prior to the release of the YouTube video and Schmitt said he left in good standing.<\/p>\n

The video, which was made by the jail security system, was leaked online more than a year after the event. Prior to that the police department had conducted its own investigation and found the officers\u2019 actions were consistent with department policy. But in response to the outcry following release of the video, Schmitt invited the outside investigation.<\/p>\n

Schmitt said previously, and again this week that while \u201cit didn\u2019t look good, it wasn\u2019t gratuitous or outside our policy \u2014 they could\u2019ve handled it differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since that time, the department has reviewed its training on tasers, and retrained officers on the equipment. \u201cThat has effectively changed our procedures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The main change is related to the use of the \u201cdrive stun\u201d feature as a \u201cpain compliance tool.\u201d The technique involves applying the Taser directly to the body of the subject. The usual procedure is to shoot prongs that trail wires from the Taser and shock the subject from some distance away. While the use of the \u201cdrive stun\u201d feature is not prohibited, it would have to be an exceptional circumstance to be used.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say we would never use it but it would have to be exceptional,\u201d Schmitt said. \u201cWe no longer use the Taser (in drive stun) as a pain compliance tool.\u201d However, he said, he has seen the Taser used effectively to subdue an out-of-control person in custody. For example, the chief said, it was used effectively to subdue an armed and violent suspect who was threatening to take his own life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we\u2019re less likely to use the Taser, using that method of drive-stun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In the days following the release of the video and the resulting public focus on excessive force issues, the police department, responding to local media requests, made its own policies and procedure manual available to the public.<\/p>\n

Also, police department staff and city officials, joined by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska, held a town hall meeting in December to discuss the incident and address the racial issues that were brought forward.<\/p>\n

\u2022 This article first appeared in the Daily Sitka Sentinel.<\/p>\n

Related stories:<\/p>\n

Village safety officer who Tased Kake kids will not be charged<\/a><\/p>\n

JPD gets new batons<\/a><\/p>\n

JPD force rate below national average<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SITKA \u2014 The Sitka Police Department is still waiting for results of an FBI investigation launched nearly seven months ago into the use of force by three Sitka officers in a 2014 tasing incident. Sitka Police Chief Sheldon Schmitt requested the investigation following the online release of a video that showed officers restraining and repeatedly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":4461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[230],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-4460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4460","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=4460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4460"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}