Hogtied suspect listed in critical condition

For the second time in 14 months, a suspect is fighting for his life in a Spokane hospital after he was hogtied following a struggle with area police officers.

Trent A. Yohe, 37, of Spokane Valley, remains in critical condition at Sacred Heart Medical Center after he stopped breathing May 1 following a struggle with Spokane Valley police officers in which he was shocked with a Taser.

New details obtained Tuesday by The Spokesman-Review show Yohe was hogtied when officers noticed he had stopped breathing. Initial reports of the incident included disclosure of the Taser shock but omitted any mention of the nylon leg restraints used to bind the suspect’s ankles behind his back to his handcuffed wrists.

Spokane Valley police spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan said he wasn’t aware on the night of May 1 that officers used the leg restraints on Yohe.

“It’s not unusual for specific details to come to light on the second or third day,” he said.

But the decision to hogtie Yohe raises questions, particularly since Spokane police remain under local and federal investigation for using essentially the same technique to restrain Otto Zehm, a 36-year-old mentally ill janitor who lapsed into a coma and died March 20, 2006, following a confrontation with officers at a convenience store.

“It’s surprising to me that local law enforcement, who have lived through the intense media scrutiny of the Otto Zehm case, would use hogtying in such a similar situation,” said Breean Beggs, of the public interest law firm Center for Justice. He once represented Zehm’s mother.

But Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said all the reports he has seen indicate that the officers followed procedure in their encounter with Yohe. And he dismissed comparisons to the Otto Zehm case.

“Based on everything I’ve seen, it’s not remotely the same,” Knezovich said.

But he acknowledged that both cases involve suspects struggling with officers who then used Tasers. In both encounters, the officers hogtied the suspects, and both suspects stopped breathing while restrained.

Knezovich pointed out that officers did not place a mask on Yohe’s face like Spokane officers did to Zehm.

“The things we have in common are we had police contact and a struggle,” he said. “As far as the policy question, it looks like everything was followed.”

The Yohe incident began as an anonymous call about drug activity inside a travel trailer parked in the backyard of 6811 E. Fifth Ave.

Officers Scott Bonney, John Cook, Michael Wall and Griffen Criswell – who are sheriff’s deputies contracted to work as officers in Spokane Valley – responded to that location and heard noises inside the trailer. But no one would answer the door.

Someone inside the trailer escaped out a hatch in the roof at the same time that officers saw a small fire inside the trailer, according to court records. The officers forced their way inside and found a man, later identified as Yohe, who appeared to be having a seizure.

“When this male was contacted, he immediately became combative and struck SCSO Deputy (Scott) Bonney with a closed fist,” Spokane police Detective Marty Hill wrote in a search warrant seeking to search Yohe’s trailer.

The officers were able to get Yohe – who has a felony forgery warrant – out of the smoky trailer, but he continued to struggle.

“Once outside the trailer, deputies deployed a Taser in an attempt to stop the combative behavior of Yohe,” Hill wrote. “Yohe was subsequently restrained and handcuffed. Yohe continued to kick and thrash and deputies requested the use of leg restraints.

“When these were applied to Yohe, deputies described Yohe as becoming unresponsive and not breathing,” Hill wrote.

As a result of Yohe’s condition, law enforcement officials invoked an agreement between the Spokane police and the Spokane Sheriff’s Office to let each other’s department take the lead investigative role in officer-involved shootings and other incidents.

All the officers have returned to work except for Cook, who is awaiting a counseling session for dealing with traumatic incidents, Knezovich said.

Spokane police spokeswoman Officer Jennifer DeRuwe said it was her understanding that Yohe was lying on his stomach when he was hogtied. “They were calling for medics, and the leg restraints were taken off,” DeRuwe said.

Medics arrived and transported Yohe to Sacred Heart Medical Center. Hospital staff cut off Yohe’s clothes, and he was placed on a ventilator to help him breathe. “Numerous abrasions were observed all over his body,” Hill wrote.

Knezovich said he does not know whether Yohe continues to need the ventilator, but he remains in critical condition.

“We always do review our policies when we have a serious use-of-force incident,” Knezovich said. “He was leg restrained, and everything I have seen so far indicates proper protocol was used. As far as I know, we didn’t change anything because of Otto Zehm.”