King County deputy charged with fourth-degree assault on teen girl

Following an investigation initiated by his own department, a 31-year-old King County Sheriff's deputy was charged Thursday with fourth-degree assault, accused of physically assaulting a 15-year-old girl in a holding cell in November.

Authorities say the incident was caught on camera.

King County prosecutors charged Deputy Paul Schene with the crime, a gross misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail. King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Gary Ernsdorff requested bail be set at $10,000.

Schene, an eight-year veteran, was placed on paid administrative leave in early December after the Sheriff's Office assigned a detective from a work site other than his to investigate. Schene is slated to be arraigned Feb. 26 at the King County Courthouse.

The P-I is not using the girl's name because she is a minor.

Sgt. John Urquhart, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said with the criminal investigation completed, the department will launch an internal investigation.

Schene was last in the news in 2006 after he fatally shot a mentally ill man during a struggle after a traffic stop on Interstate 5. It was the second officer-involved shooting in his career.

According to court papers filed Thursday, the incident in which Schene was charged began around 3:45 a.m. Nov. 29.

The criminal case against Schene came to light Dec. 1, when a detective following up to investigate the case of auto theft and assault for injuring Schene against the 15-year-old girl checked a security video of the arrest process. The detective immediately contacted her supervisors, who in turn informed the department's internal investigations unit, Urquhart said in a news release.

Schene and another deputy had arrested two 15-year-old girls for auto theft, stopping them as the drove in a stolen car. The girls were driven to a holding cell at SeaTac City Hall to be fingerprinted before being booked into the juvenile detention center.

According to an affidavit accompanying the charges, Schene, who is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 195 pounds, and the girl exchanged words as he led her toward the cell.

The affidavit, which is based upon King County Detective Jeff Johnson's investigation and security camera video, said that "once inside the cell, (the girl) was removing her shoes and kicked her left shoe off and it struck Deputy Schene below his right knee. Deputy Schene entered the cell and did a front kick at (the girl) which appeared to strike her in the upper left thigh area."

The girl later told an investigator that her basketball shoe had "flipped" out and hit Schene, who then told her that constituted assaulting an officer. The girl denied resisting arrest at any time, the papers said.

When the girl stepped back after the kick, "Deputy Schene pushed her onto the back wall. Deputy Schene then took (her) down to the floor by her hair and had her in a handcuffing position. While on the floor, Deputy Schene looked to have (her) in a hair hold and was pulling her head and neck upward," court papers said.

The affidavit said Schene in the video makes "two overhead strikes down towards" the girl, but the camera angle does not capture where they landed.

A second deputy, who has not been charged, was doing paperwork but witnessed some of the incident, and said the strikes hit the girl in the chest, the court papers said.

Following the alleged assault, the girl complained that she had difficulty breathing and an aid car was called. SeaTac firefighter medics checked her but did not transport her to a hospital.

Schene was not interviewed by Johnson. Through his lawyer, Anne Bremner, he replied to questions sent via e-mail, prosecutors said.

According to court documents, Schene answered that he re-entered the cell to put handcuffs on the girl to prevent another assault after she hit him with her shoe. Schene said the girl "provided resistance and failure to comply with the instructions in the holding area."

The affidavit said Schene did not explain why he made two strikes toward the girl in the holding cell, or whether those strikes connected.

In June 2006, Schene fatally shot a suspect, Pedro Yo, who attacked him during a traffic stop. Yo had run back to his car and disobeyed Schene's orders to stop. Schene said he saw Yo reach for something in the seat, so he fired 11 times after he ran back to his car. An inquest jury found Schene's shooting was justified.