SPD Officer who taught 'use of force' class investigated for force

SEATTLE — A Seattle police officer is under investigation for using excessive force on a woman in handcuffs.

The incident happened in South Seattle on Sunday.

SPD says Officer Adley Shepherd was arresting a woman accused of domestic violence. Sources tell KIRO 7 she kicked Shepherd, then he punched her back.

The confrontation was caught on the dashboard camera. KIRO 7 has requested a copy of the dash camera video.

When the Office of Professional Accountability and SPD Force Investigation team saw the video, Shepherd was relieved of duty.

“We’re going to be fair and thorough conducting these investigations,” said new Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole. “Given our consent decree we have to work in concert with our Federal partners.”

O’Toole said she notified the U.S. Attorney’s office, FBI and Washington State Patrol about Officer Shepherd’s incident.

Since the Department of Justice determined SPD had a pattern of excessive force, the department has new “use of force” guidelines.

KIRO 7 found out Officer Shepherd actually taught the use of force class last week. Now, he’s home on paid administrative leave.

We searched our archives, turns out Shepherd has been disciplined by SPD before. In May 2009, Shepherd didn’t book a domestic violence suspect into jail.

That suspect, Valente Alvarez-Guerrero, went back and killed his roommate.  Shepherd kept his job; his sergeant had screened the arrest.

KIRO