A 13-year-old boy was kicked in the chest by an Orlando police officer during an arrest last year, an Internal Affairs investigation shows. The officer was suspended after the investigation found his use of force was excessive, documents show. (Orlando Police Department)
An Orlando p*olice o*fficer who k* icked a 13-year-old boy in the ch*est while a* rresting him last year was d* isciplined after an Internal Affairs i*nvestigation found his use of f* orce was e* xcessive, documents show.
Neal Chase, a K-9 o*fficer, was d* isciplined with a 16-hour s*uspension following the p*robe, which determined he v* iolated a department regulation on obedience to policies and procedures related to response to re*sistance and a*pprehension techniques, an IA i*nvestigation released this week in response to a public records request shows.
The i*nvestigation was prompted after a review of reports from the i* ncident and another o*fficer’s body worn c*amera video, which i* nvestigators said showed Chase k* ick the boy as he was on his k* nees with his hands u*p – “a position of s* ubmission,” i* nvestigators wrote.
The b* ody camera footage was not released with Chase’s Internal Affair’s report because the s* uspect is a juvenile.
Chase and other o*fficers in May 2018 were responding to reports of multiple vehicle b*reak-ins near the 500 block of east Jackson Street when witnesses began ch* asing the 13-year-old and another s* uspect out of a parking garage and toward South Street and Eola Drive, o*fficers wrote in i* ncident reports from the night of the a* rrest.
Chase said in an interview with i*nvestigators he was directed by other o* fficers toward the teen and a witness who was ch* asing him and began giving them commands identifying himself as a K-9 o*fficer and telling them to stop running, documents show.
The boy eventually c*omplied and emptied his p*ockets before k* neeling on the g*round and r* aising his hands over his h* ead, according to o*fficers’ description of the b*ody camera f*ootage in interviews with i* nvestigators.
Chase told i* nvestigators he approached the boy at g* unp*oint and began giving l*oud commands for him to get “all the way d*own.” He said he wanted the boy to l* ay on his s*tomach and, when he wasn’t c* omplying, k* icked him in the ch*est so he’d f* all on his back.
Chase and another o*fficer who witnessed the i* ncident described the s*uspect’s f* leeing as an “a* ctive resistance” to p* olice. The teen showed no r*esistance when he s*topped running and d*ropped to his k* nees, but then was “p*assively” r*esisting when Chase said the boy ignored commands to d* rop to the g*round, the o*fficers said.
OPD guidelines for an offi*cer’s response to r* esistance show p* assive resistance should be met with “soft c*ontrol” – techniques like wrist l* ocks, arm b* ars and p* ressure points, which have a “minimal potential of i* njury to the subject” if the person r*esists.
A k* ick is considered “hard c* ontrol,” the guidelines state, and should be reserved for a subject who is actively r* esisting p* olice.
In a form completed by a supervisor who reviewed Chase’s use of f*orce, Sgt.
Ryan McConnell said he did not approve of Chase’s “intensified c* ontrol techniques” in a* rresting the boy.
Chase told i* nvestigators “extenuating circumstances” were factored in his d*ecision to use more f* orce on the teen, including that the boy was a f* elony s* uspect and could have had a w* eapon. Chase also said the boy’s eyes were moving “in an a* ttempt to potentially look for another e*scape route as he had already f*led... from o* fficers for multiple b* locks.”
He also didn’t know another o*fficer was behind him, he said.
“I believed to be in a one on one situation as far as me v* ersus him,” Chase told i* nvestigators.
The boy was t*reated and cleared at the s*cene by param*edics after complaining of chest p* ain, o* fficers said in interviews. He and another boy, who later told p* olice the boys had b* roken into numerous cars over the previous days, were a* rrested on b* urglary, c* riminal m*ischief and grand th* eft ch*arges, records show.
Chase filed grievances following his s* uspension, arguing his d* iscipline was excessive and he should be e*xonerated, documents show. He said i* nvestigators should have interviewed the agency’s d*efensive tactics expert to assess “the reasonableness” of his a*ctions.
His technique is “taught and standard practice by S* WAT members during d*ynamic entries,” he argued.
Chief Orlando Rolón rejected the g*rievances, saying video of the i*ncident “clearly shows” the boy “was in a position internationally recognized as that of surrender” when Chase k* icked him.