After Felonious Attack on Handcuffed Black Man in Hospital Emergency Room White Tukwila Prosecutors Hook Up White Cop with No Jail Misdemeanor Plea

SeattleTimes

A former Tukwila police officer indicted on a felony charge of pepper-spraying a patient who was handcuffed to a gurney at Harborview Medical Center pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

Nick Hogan pleaded guilty to a single count of deprivation of rights under color of law, a misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $100,000 and a year of supervised release.

 U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Alice Theiler, who accepted the plea, said Hogan will be sentenced Jan. 27.

Hogan, 36, originally had been charged with a felony in the Harborview incident and faced up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted.

The Harborview incident occurred May 20, 2009, while Hogan was transporting an "uncooperative" man wanted on a warrant to the hospital to be treated for a split lip suffered in a fight.

At the hospital, Hogan said he delivered three “knee strikes” to the handcuffed Black man’s head after he was slow to get out of the police cruiser, and then — once inside the emergency room — shoved and tackled him, sparking protests from hospital security officials.

The Black man was handcuffed to a gurney, where he taunted Hogan, who responded by spraying him in the face with pepper spray.

Hogan told his commander he never considered just moving away from M.S., and acknowledged “he triggered my threat response.”

In pleading guilty, Hogan signed a restrictive plea agreement that effectively prevents him from ever working in law enforcement again. At the same time, it provides for consideration at sentence for taking responsibility for his crime.

The agreement also orders that he pay an as-yet undetermined amount of restitution to the victim, identified in court documents only by the initials M.S.

The agreement requires that Hogan resign his law-enforcement commission for at least 15 years, meaning he can no longer be a police officer, and he is barred from seeking work in the private-security field where Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Miyake said he might “have control or authority over someone else.” He also cannot hold a job where he has to carry a firearm.

The city of Snoqualmie hired Hogan in 2012, after he was fired by Tukwila.