WASHINGTON
A federal grand jury Thursday charged former Tukwila, Washington, Police Department Officer Nicholas Hogan with using excessive force on a restrained arrestee who was on a hospital gurney on May 20, 2011, officials said.
The indictment alleges that Hogan, while acting as a TPD officer, deployed oleoresin capsicum spray (commonly referred to as OC spray or pepper spray) against an arrestee who was in four-point restraints and shackled to a gurney in a hospital, according to authorities.
The indictment identifies the arrestee only by the initials M.S. The indictment further alleges that M.S. suffered bodily injury as a result of Hogan’s use of excessive force, officials said.
Hogan was fired by the Tukwila Police Department in 2012. His commanders were concerned that he was too quick to use force, according to a report from KIRO TV. He was hired by the Snoqualmie Police Department in 2014, where authorities said he was suspended for 20 days this year for having an affair with another officer’s wife, according to officials.
In another media report, this isn’t the firs time Hogan has been involved an incident. He was allegedly accused of using excessive force on duty, either. Just a month earlier, in April of 2011, a Tukwila man claimed Hogan and other officers attacked him, shattering his ankle.
KOMO News.com reported that the man, Robert Turner, said he and fellow members of his car club were hosting a late-night barbecue when police showed up to investigate what they thought were gun shots in the nearby woods.
In a complaint filed in 2014, Turner said he was walking towards police to check on a friend who was being questioned when officer Hogan stopped him.
“He tried to push me, he lost his footing and he fell down. And when he fell down, I just laid on the ground and that’s when the stomping began, and five officers just jumped on me and started beating me,” Turner said in 2014.
Turner’s complaint claims that Hogan or another officer broke Turner’s ankle, resulting in two surgeries and hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, according to KOMO News.
“They beat me pretty good. Maced me, Tased me. Two Tasers,” he said in his complaint.
The suit also says the King County jail initially denied booking Turner until he had medical attention to clean off the pepper spray. Charges against Turner were also dropped, KOMO News reported.
The defendant is innocent until proven guilty, officials said.
If convicted, Hogan faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the civil rights violation, as well as a potential $250,000 fine, according to officials.
To read Hogan Indictment click here: Federal Grand Jury