A Seattle police officer at the center of a use of force investigation will not face federal charges.
In a letter to Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole, United States Attorney Annette Hayes said that after careful consideration, the evidence in the case involving Officer Adley Shepherd "does not establish a prosecutable violation of the federal criminal civil rights statutes."
Shepherd punched a handcuffed woman in the head during an arrest after she kicked him. The incident happened in June 22, 2014.
The investigation process has taken 498 days -- nearly 17 months -- Shepherd's attorney said.
“This was an intoxicated criminal suspect who kicked a police officer in the face,” attorney Eric Makus said. “And if the new use of force policy means an officer is put on administrative leave for nearly 500 days after being kicked in the face by criminal suspect, that is a failure.”
Makus said Shepherd has requested to talk with O’Toole and was denied the opportunity to discuss the case with her.
“The silence if an ineffective way to manage a police department,” Makus said.
Last December, the King County Prosecutor’s Office also declined to file charges against Shepherd.
“Evidence reviewed in the case shows that Officer [Adley] Shepherd acted professionally and with restraint up to the point where he was kicked in the head by the suspect as she was being placed into the patrol car,” a statement from Prosecutor Dan Satterberg’s office read.
“Today’s announcement is really no surprise,” Makus said. “There has never been any wrong doing. It really is an outrage the amount of money and resources that are being spent on this.”
For at least 10 minutes of the video-recorded incident, Shepherd is heard speaking with Miyekko Durden-Bosley before he pushed her in the squad car. That’s when she kicked him and he punched her.
Shepherd has been on paid administrative leave during the investigation.
The case will now go to Seattle department’s Forece Investigation Team Office of Professional Accountability, which investigates use of forces cases. The case was previous investigated by the Washington State Patrol before Satterberg’s decision.
“Officer Shepherd reacted instantaneously to the kick by the suspect, who was wearing boots, with one punch to the suspect's head which caused a fracture of an orbital socket,” Satterberg said in a statement last year.
“While Officer Shepherd may have had other options or alternatives, we have concluded that we would be unable to prove that Officer Shepherd's use of force was criminal,” the statement said.
Documents provided by Satterberg’s office showed the woman “immediately stated F--- b--- and kicked Shepherd in the face. Shepherd recoiled, stated, ‘She kicked me,’ and punched Durden-Bosley once in the face.”
After the King County Prosecutor declined to file charges, Shepherd’s attorney said the injuries to Durden-Bosley were unfortunate.
“But I’ll tell you, that would not have happened if she would have complied, and not resisted, and just not been combative,” attorney Eric Makus told KIRO 7 last year.
The Seattle Police Officers’ Guild had similar thoughts after Satterberg’s decision not to charge.
“It is our opinion that had the suspect heeded the officers’ commands, the resulting incident in question would not have occurred,” a Guild said in a statement at the time.
Shepherd has been disciplined by SPD before. In May 2009, Shepherd didn’t book a domestic violence suspect into jail. That suspect, Valente Alvarez-Guerrero, went back and killed his roommate.
Shepherd kept his job; his sergeant had screened the arrest.
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