Cop shoves innocent man head first into wall, puts him into coma

A Washington state man who was incorrectly identified as a suspect in an assault on May 10, is now clinging to life in critical condition.

Christopher Harris, a 29-year-old Edmonds man is in a coma, with skull fractures after being pushed into a wall by a King County sheriff's deputy working the Metro Transit overnight shift on foot patrol. Harris had started to run after deputies ordered him More..to 'stop,' and sustained his injuries after deputies caught up with him near a Seattle 'Cinerama.' It remains unclear why Harris decided to run.

After Harris is slammed into the wall, the deputy then drags him away from the wall by one arm, and attempts to handcuff him before seeming to realize the seriousness of Harris' injuries and calling for help.

The King County sheriff's department released a surveillance video, along with their internal investigation results of the incident last week. The investigation of their deputy found in a preliminary review that he 'appeared' to have acted lawfully. SeattlePI reports:

A Metro Transit police officer appears to have acted lawfully when he plowed into an Edmonds man during a foot pursuit in Belltown this month and caused the man's head to slam against a wall, the King County Sheriff's Office reported Thursday.

Christopher Harris, 29, has been in a coma since May 10, the day that he inexplicably ran from two police officers who were incorrectly told that Harris was involved in a robbery at a convenience store at Second Avenue and Bell Street.

After announcing the investigation's results, the Sheriff's Office released video from three security cameras that captured the chase, including the final seconds when Deputy Matt Paul overtook Harris and shoved him into a wall at the Seattle Cinerama Theater at Fourth Avenue and Lenora Street.

A Sheriff's Office spokesman said that upon a preliminary review, the deputy's conduct appears to be lawful. The investigation, however, will be reviewed by the Prosecutor's Office, Sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart said during a news conference at the alley where the chase started.

"We're looking at this as a tragic accident. Nothing more than that," he said.

The sheriff's department is expected to conduct another investigation to determine if the deputy involved followed departmental policies, and is continuing to seek more witnesses in the case.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• police brutality
• Washington
• metro
• mistaken identity
• New World Order
• Orwellian
• Christopher Harris
• Edmonds
• King County
• coma
• Seattle

[largelester]

what is so hard about firing a cop?

[miscuser69]

That cop should be put in prison for life, end of story. No excuse, this is barbaric behaviour by a power hungry high school dropout with a licence to kill. End this madness by requiring IQ tests & higher education requirments for police officers. I also encourage tripling salaries for police officers to entice more professional types. Currently the police force is a cess pool of uneducated brutes who have control issues, most likely from having small penises and childhhod physcial abuse.

[shirtlessman]

@BirdmanPB --I read the complete story and word for word court record. I find the results to be typical southern racist bullshit-------and I'm white. No probable cause, inflicting serious injuries and because of their stupidity --the man could have went into a coma. Since when is it protocol to drive one home after they have inflicted injuries on someone.?

[shirtlessman]

@1freedom101 ---He wasn't fired, The county had to pay $10 million taxpayers dollars because of this under trained, and Nazi actions. He should do some time, in general population--- I would love to see how that works out for him.

[shirtlessman]

@bsmithmeyer --you say-------Also if you have ever needed the police to catch your suspect that had just attacked you i would want this officer to chase him because the suspect would not escape. Did you really look at the video. When he saw them charging at him, he doesn't know what to do he isn't resisting. Read the reports, the cops were dressed in black and chased him, while they chased him they never identified themselves. Overzealous,jury saw it that way also. Cop should do time.

[wesmatron]

When public servants start behaving like the masters, we have problems. This filthy cop needs jail. Tragic accident? How about we do this to the cop's kids? How would he feel then?

Fucking hypocrisy

[spike378]

american cops have too much authority.

[spike378]

@largelester thats because cops in america have all the rights

[RoyalPurpleHaze]

got his shit fucked

[HanhliFD]

He ran from them when? He was just walking calmly

[threefiddy08]

say i'm a young child. I hit my little brother and hurt him badly. Knowing my parents will surely punish me my only excuse is it was an accident. But my parents know better. "tragic accident" is just a way for the police to avoid responsibility.

[orosco83]

05/25/11 TACOMA — Despite reaching a $10 million settlement Tuesday, attorneys representing King County and the family of Christopher Sean Harris still disagree about what exactly happened the night in May 2009 when a sheriff's deputy shoved Harris into a concrete wall. Harris can still no longer walk, talk, or eat on his own.