Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

March 2, 2009

Last November Deputy Paul Schene of Washington?s King County Sheriff's Department was videotaped beating a 15-year-old girl in a holding cell.

As the door to her cell was being closed, the girl was ordered to remove her shoes. She complied by kicking one of them in Schene's direction.

Schene charged into the cell, kicked the girl in the stomach, slammed her head against the wall, threw her face-first to the floor, and ? with another officer?s help -- handcuffed her while striking her twice to the back to the head. Once she was shackled, the girl was pulled to her feet and dragged out of the cell by her hair:

None of this unnecessary violence was noted in Schene?s official report.

The video was pried from the department by a local TV station through an open records request. This incident reminds us, once again, of the value of recording police conduct wherever possible.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.