AndrewBlakeCoeur d’Alene, ID – Police have released several bodycam and surveillance videos of an altercation that took place in a hospital after a woman refused to be arrested (video below).
Police were called to Kootenai Health after Lindsay McLean drove into the emergency room entrance the wrong way on Aug. 27, 2017, the Spokesman-Review reported.
Lindsay had brought her 29-year-old Army veteran husband, Harrison McLean, to the emergency room suffering from an allergic stomach reaction after attending an anniversary party.
Hospital staff reported that she appeared drunk, and they took away her keys and notified police.
Upon arrival, Coeur d’Alene Police Officer Jacob Proctor spoke to the reporting receptionist and several witnesses about their suspicions, the Spokesman-Review reported.
He then approached Lindsay, who was already talking to Officer Emily Taylor.
Officer Proctor reported smelling alcohol on Lindsay’s breath and reported that she showed other signs of intoxication.
The videos showed her husband Harrison sitting beside her in a chair when the incident began.
“We’ll be back here tomorrow to get my keys; we haven’t done anything wrong. I’m looking out for my husband’s well-being,” Lindsay told Officer Proctor in the video.
Lindsay got up to retrieve her ID from the officer and then found her path blocked by Officer Proctor.
“OK, here’s the deal, because you’ve already driven here and you’ve been drinking, I need to make sure you’re OK to drive,” Officer Proctor told explained in the video.
“Nope,” Lindsay replied. She claimed she had a friend driving her home.
“Are you going to refuse … or perform …” Officer Proctor said.
In the video, Lindsay continued to insist that a friend was there to pick them up and that she wasn’t driving. She turned away from the police officer in a dismissive manner.
At that point, Officer Proctor and Officer Taylor each grabbed one of the woman’s arms and began to take her into custody, the video showed.
“What are you doing? No!” Lindsay screamed.
“You’re under arrest,” Officer Proctor replied as the woman began thrashing and trying to escape the officers’ grasp.
Suddenly, her husband Harrison launched himself out of his chair and attacked Officer Proctor, the video showed.
He grabbed onto Officer Proctor’s legs and attempted to bring the officer to the ground with him.
“Let go of my legs,” Officer Proctor ordered. “Stop resisting!”
Police said Harrison threw a punch while cursing at Officer Proctor and tore off Officer Taylor’s radio in the scuffle, the Spokesman-Review reported.
The video showed two security guards jumping in to help subdue Harrison.
Officer Proctor said that Harrison stayed latched onto his upper legs and just inches from his police belt, according to his police captain. So he punched Harrison multiple times in the ribs so he’d let go, the Spokesman-Review reported.
Lindsay was arrested and charged with battery of an officer, resisting police, and refusing a sobriety test, according to the Spokesman-Review.
Her husband is facing charges of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.
Lindsay, who claimed to have had four beers over an eight-hour period, showed impairment on sobriety tests while being questioned at the Kootenai County Jail, police said.
Coeur d’Alene Police Captain Dave Hagar said the department had reviewed the incident, as per protocol, to make sure the use of force was not excessive.
Captain Hagar told KHQ that the officers had acted appropriately in this case, and that Officer Proctor had only punched Harrison until he let go so that they could put him in handcuffs.
“It was reported within 24 hours through our use of force board and reviewed the video and based on the aggressive, assault, battery behavior against our officers,” Captain Hagar said, “You simply just can’t batter an officer.”
He also said the officer had probable cause to arrest Lindsay.
“He’d already established probable cause. The last confirmation was whether she’d do a sobriety test,” Captain Hagar told the Spokesman-Review. “Based on witness statements, what he saw, he already knew he’d place her under arrest. She said she was walking out of there, and we can’t allow that to happen.”
The trial was scheduled for June.
The McLeans were offered a plea deal which would have knocked their felony charges to misdemeanors, and only required they pay a fine and year on probation, according to the Spokesman-Review.
They refused the light plea deal, claiming that they were actually the victims.
“I understand the severity of getting physical with law enforcement officer but at the same time, there’s two sides to every scenario,” Harrison told KHQ.
“We thought that this would have been relieved once the prosecutors saw the videos and read the police reports and saw the discrepancies in the police reports,” Lindsay told the Spokesman-Review. “But there was never any movement.”
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You can see the incident in the video below: