Judge may give access to cop video

A surveillance videotape that the Seattle Police Department used to exonerate two officers accused of police brutality apparently differs from the officers' written accounts of the arrest, and a judge says she's likely to give attorneys access to more information about the internal investigation into the incident.

The department had argued that the video and other documents aren't relevant to other prosecutions because the officers were cleared of the brutality allegations.

However, during a hearing Monday, King County Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer said that she probably will let defense attorneys in at least nine cases involving the two officers to have access to the video and other information from the internal investigation.

If Shaffer allows that access, it could mean that the defense attorneys in all of those cases may get to challenge the credibility of the two arresting officers, Gregory Neubert and Michael Tietjen, and may jeopardize the prosecutions.

It also raises questions about the department's investigation into an internal-affairs complaint filed by George "Troy" Patterson, 26, after he was arrested Jan. 2 by Neubert and Tietjen. Patterson accused the officers of police brutality and claimed that the officers planted drugs on him.

Charges against him were dismissed after the internal investigation was made public.

Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, at a news conference last month, said he had reviewed the tape and exonerated the officers of all of Patterson's complaints. The department did uphold an internal finding that the officers failed to properly document the detention of another man at the scene.

The Police Department released the videotape and reports but has withheld other information it gathered. Police attorney Ted Buck argued that "the remainder of the file is inappropriate for disclosure."

But Shaffer may disagree.

"I'm inclined to find that, based on the officer accounts and the videotape taken together, that there is a sufficient showing" that the information is relevant for the defense in the other cases, the judge said.

Shaffer pointed out that this is an unusual — if not unique — instance because of the existence of a video that can be used to test the officers' statements.

Attorneys for nine defendants arrested by Neubert and Tietjen appeared before the judge Monday afternoon to argue that the department and the King County Prosecutor's Office should provide them with any materials that might help their clients.

Buck wrote that nothing on the video can be used to impugn the officers' word.

Lisa Daugaard, the deputy director of The Defender Association who represents one of the nine, scoffed in her reply.

"Nothing in the city's presentation to the Court should be accepted at face value," she wrote to the court. "Not even the most heavily tinted rose-colored lenses could justify that claim, since virtually nothing claimed in the officers' incident reports actually occurs on the video, and almost nothing that occurs on the video is in the officers' reports."

The judge delayed a formal ruling until Friday, when the hearing will continue.

Regarding the detention of the second man during Patterson's arrest, the chief and others have said the other man was handcuffed "briefly" by the officers, neither of whom documented it in their written reports as required by department policy.

But the videotape, which was made available to the media through public-disclosure requests, shows the man was held for almost the entire time the officers were arresting and searching Patterson — more than 20 minutes. During that time, he stood within feet of the arrest and both officers apparently had repeated conversations with him.

In detailing the Patterson arrest, Neubert and Tietjen wrote: "I could see in plain view several small crumbs of suspected rock cocaine on his lap area. [Patterson] was placed in custody." Later, they said they found a large piece of crack in his waistband.

What the video shows is the officers stopping a man in a wheelchair and looking under his cap. Thirty seconds into it, Neubert can be seen grabbing the man's face with his right hand and the back of his neck with the other, as if trying to get him to spit something out of his mouth. Tietjen rushes over and grabs Patterson's left arm and twists it back into a compliance hold.

Patterson can be seen leaning forward, his head almost on his knees while Neubert — his back toward the camera — continues to hunch over him. This goes on for more than four minutes, at which time the officers let him up and handcuff him.

Buck, a former officer who teaches report writing at the police academy, also addressed the allegations that the reports don't reflect what's on the videotape: "Sometimes, [officers] do a crappy job of writing reports."

Daugaard said that police reports are used to send people to prison and should be as accurate as possible.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com