The Auburn city attorney dismissed pending charges against a 33-year-old man who was beaten by a police officer while under arrest.
Videos of Officer Andrew Bryant punching the man in the face over 20 times circulated widely online and in the news, sparking outrage. In body-camera footage released by the Auburn Police Department last week, Bryant is seen straddling the shirtless man in the middle of a busy road and hitting him repeatedly while the man raises his hands in defense.
The department arrested the man and booked him in jail for investigation of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, third-degree attempted assault, obstruction and possession of a controlled substance. But the city prosecutor's office decided to dismiss charges against him “without prejudice," meaning it could file charges later "tailored to the facts and circumstances as they come to light," according to a statement.
The Seattle Times is not naming the man because he has not been charged. The office did not answer a question about whether the charges were dismissed due to the beating or because the case was legally insufficient.
According to Auburn police, officers had responded around 3:15 p.m. Oct. 28 to reports of a man running in and out of traffic and trying to get into vehicles. The department released an 18-minute recording from Bryant's body-worn camera, which shows he arrived to the scene alone.
The footage shows Bryant approach the man, who was blocking traffic by being in the roadway, and tell him to get on the ground or he would be shot with a Taser. Bryant then shoots the Taser and stuns the man, who screams and falls to the ground.
Bryant goes on to punch the man over and over again. At one point Bryant tells the man “Stop grabbing my gear.”
In a statement, the department said the man did not comply with commands and the Taser deployed successfully. Tasers typically cause people to lose motor control for five seconds.
Auburn police said it took four officers to “gain control” of the man and handcuff him, and that the man screamed and resisted first responders who arrived and tried to calm him down.
“He starts, like, pushing on my face, trying to grab my hair,” Bryant told a medic after the arrest. “I think he grabbed my gun. I’m not 100% sure … so I started just delivering strikes.”
The officer and man had minor injuries, according to police. Both were treated at a hospital.
Auburn is reviewing the incident for compliance with policy, and the Renton Police Department is conducting an independent review of whether the officer violated criminal law.
The department’s policies state officers must only use force that is “objectively reasonable,” and other officers have a duty to intervene to prevent use of unreasonable force.
Bryant's disciplinary history, according to the department, includes one self-reported car accident for which he received "coaching and counseling."
The Auburn Police Department’s practice of using force was recently under scrutiny when Officer Jeffrey Nelson became the first cop in Washington to be convicted of murder for an on-duty killing during an arrest.
Nelson was sentenced last year to almost 17 years in prison for the 2019 assault and murder of Jesse Sarey.
In a statement from the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability, Sarey's foster mother Elaine Simons said the department "has a pattern of unnecessary use of force."
In 2020, the department established the Police Advisory Committee, a group of community members that serves as an advisory body for the department. The committee went on hiatus in December, according to a statement from department spokesperson Kolby Crossley, due to "the departure of several members.
A police commander is reviewing the committee's guiding principles and guidelines, according to the statement. The group does not investigate police use of force.
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