ONTARIO – Recently released police body cam video verifies the public account of an incident in May involving Ontario police and an elderly man in a medical crisis.
Ontario Police Chief Mike Iwai told the Ontario City Council in June that his officers used the correct tactics during the May 11 incident at The Body Shop on Southwest Fourth Avenue.
The body cam footage reviewed by the Enterprise aligns with Iwai account.
The video was released after the Argus-Observer won a public records order from Malheur County District Attorney Dave Goldthorpe that required the city to release the video.
“Body worn camera footage produced by police officers in the course of their official duty is a public record,” Goldthorpe wrote in his order for release.
Goldthorpe wrote that “use of force by on-duty police officers against citizens is an important activity that regularly draws public attention, interest and scrutiny.”
“Withholding such records from release only creates a greater cloud of suspicion over police authority, and should only be done when absolutely necessary,” he wrote.
The body cam footage reviewed by the Enterprise was from Ontario police Sgt. John Laurenson and is more than five minutes in length.
The incident was the focus of a letter from Nyssa City Councilor Roberto Escobedo presented to the city council in May.
Escobedo wrote he witnessed police pull the elderly man out of his pickup, throw him on the ground and sit on him. He said he considered the apparent use of force to be “unnecessary.”
The incident began when Laurenson and officers Richard Frazier and Jared Cutler responded to The Body Shop after a call of a pickup truck high-centered on a grassy area in a parking lot next to the business.
Frazier walked up to the passenger side of the pickup and opened the door and began to ask the driver questions. At the same time, Laurenson walked around to the driver’s side door and opened it.
Iwai reported at that point the man did not respond to Frazier’s questions. The man leaned over in the cab toward Frazier and then him arm jerked rapidly.
“Officer Frazier believed he was trying to put the vehicle into a different gear,” Iwai said.
Frazier then pushed the man toward Laurenson who then clutched the man and rolled him out of the truck and onto the ground.
“He was medically impaired but they thought he was alcohol impaired,” said Iwai.
Iwai said officers did not have their knees on the man’s back or shoulder area but on the man’s buttocks. About 90 seconds into the incident, the officers called for an ambulance. He also told the council at no time was the man’s airway obstructed.
“It was a custody technique used and there were no kicks or strikes, no deployment of less-than lethal rounds, no show of deadly force,” Iwai reported.
News tip? Contact reporter Pat Caldwell at [email protected]
Previous coverage:
Ontario police open internal review regarding use of force incident
Ontario police chief says officers used appropriate tactics in May incident
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