An internal police investigation alleges that a city officer should be suspended from the force after he repeatedly hit a man as he lay unresisting in the street.
Cpl. Jason King has been accused of conduct unbecoming of an officer because of the attack and allegations that he falsified a police report in an effort to cover up the incident.
According to a letter outlining the allegations, written by Police Chief Darryl Boykins and addressed to the Board of Public Safety, King is accused of attacking Skee Katlun after a high-speed car chase on the city’s southwest side on the evening of Feb. 14.
In King’s police report, he writes that Katlun left the car and took a defensive stance, forcing King to hit him. A video recorded at the scene from a police cruiser, however, allegedly shows Katlun dropping face down on the ground, with his arms and legs spread.
Boykins’ letter, written after an internal investigation, said King began to repeatedly hit Katlun, using his right fist to deliver blows to Katlun’s head and back.
King’s police report states that Katlun struggled with officers and attempted to kick them.
But Boykins said the video shows that Katlun, now handcuffed and held by Patrolman David Klein and Sgt. Joseph Leszczynski, showed no signs of aggression as King pinned his leg back toward his buttock.
Those allegations, which Boykins said violate the department’s duty manual and constitute “duty unbecoming of an officer,” will be heard Wednesday, when the Board of Public Safety holds a special meeting to discuss the charges.
Boykins has requested that King, who has been working on “light duty” for several weeks, be suspended from the force, without pay, for 30 days. He also recommended that King be demoted from corporal to patrolman for one year.
Capt. Phil Trent, South Bend police spokesman, said King has been on “light duty” because of a medical condition and not because of the allegations. Light duty typically requires officers to do work inside the police station that does not include contact with the public.
Katlun, who has a criminal history including time in prison for theft, resisting law enforcement and drug possession, remains in jail on charges stemming from the February incident.
Court and police records do not indicate the extent of Katlun’s injuries, if any, from the incident. A relative contacted by The Tribune said Katlun said he had been in the jail’s infirmary, but county officials were unavailable to provide confirmation of that or a jail mug shot of Katlun on Thursday.
The charges
Katlun has been charged with resisting law enforcement and criminal confinement.
According to court documents, King spotted Katlun driving in a stolen car about 6 p.m. Feb. 14.
King, with lights activated, pursued Katlun, who allegedly ran several red lights and stop signs before forcing a police car off the road and crashing his car against a curb.
The criminal confinement charge stems from the accusations of a woman in Katlun’s car, who says she begged him to stop.
Trent said the investigation into the incident didn’t begin with a complaint, but with the routine review of police video footage.
He said police routinely review footage from high-speed pursuits or uses of force, as a way to ensure that proper procedures are followed.
The other two officers involved are not under investigation, Trent said.
Other incidents
King — who won the Chief’s Award of Valor in 2005 for attempting to pull a man out of a burning vehicle — has had physical altercations with suspects before.
In June 2006, King was hospitalized with a broken hand and cuts to his face after fighting a man while reportedly breaking up an alleged drug exchange.
In November 2006, King shot and killed 25-year-old Joseph Hanrath in the yard of a home in the 1900 block of South Vernon Street.
King shot Hanrath in the chest after the two began fighting. Hanrath grabbed King in a “military hold,” authorities said, forcing the officer to shoot from close range.
An investigation by the St. Joseph County Homicide Unit later declared the shooting justifiable.
In December 2007, King was critically injured in a traffic accident after his patrol car collided with that of another officer while responding to a burglary alarm. King reportedly fractured two vertebra in his neck and spent several days in the hospital before returning to the force several weeks later.
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