BETHEL -- A store surveillance video publicized Thursday by public radio station KYUK gives a new look at an altercation last summer that sparked community outrage over complaints of police brutality.
The five-minute video shows a police officer repeatedly slamming a man to the ground before taking him into custody. It does not include any sound. The incident happened July 12 in front of the Alaska Commercial Co. store in the heart of Bethel.
Attorneys on both sides identified those involved as recently fired Bethel police officer Andrew Reid and Wassillie Gregory, who didn't have a lawyer when he pleaded guilty to harassment two days after the encounter. In that case, the victim was Reid.
Attorney Sean Brown, who is based in Anchorage but spent years in Bethel, now represents Gregory. He only recently obtained a copy of the video -- seven months after he first sought it. He provided a copy to KYUK, which had a difficult encounter with the officer, and said he would also make it available to Alaska Dispatch News.
Based on the video, Gregory filed a document Thursday in Bethel District Court to rescind the conviction. Gregory had no memory of the encounter and relied on Reid's sworn statement, Brown said in new court filing.
In his statement supporting criminal charges last July, Reid wrote: "I kindly tried to assist Gregory into my cruiser for protective custody when he pulled away and clawed at me with his hand." Reid described a struggle that lasted 90 seconds.
Gregory wasn't able to make his initial court appearance because of a "dislocated shoulder and possible broken collar bone," according to court notes in the criminal file.
"The video presents new material facts, not previously presented and heard by the Court that requires vacation of the conviction in the interest of justice," Brown said in the memorandum.
The city of Bethel does not condone officer Reid's behavior, though the officer doesn't think he did anything wrong, said Bill Ingaldson, an Anchorage lawyer defending the city of Bethel against any claims made on behalf of Gregory.
Reid told the lawyer that Gregory, who is 48, was highly intoxicated, resisting arrest and clutching his hands in front of him. Reid said he jerked the man in an attempt to free his hands, Ingaldson said Thursday.
"When you see him in the video lifting him up, what he claims he is trying to do is break his hands free. So he's pulling on the guy, jerking to jerk his hands apart. Mr. Gregory was pretty strong so he wasn't able to do it," Ingaldson said.
"That being said, we certainly as the city of Bethel and city of Bethel police officers do not condone the method that he used and do not feel it was appropriate at all," Ingaldson said.
He said he's in negotiations with Gregory's lawyer, Brown, to resolve any civil claim. He and Brown watched the video in his office on March 17, he said.
Reid's last day of work with the city of Bethel was March 2, said city manager Ann Capela. She and Police Chief Andre Achee said they could not discuss why Reid no longer works as a city patrol officer. Ingaldson confirmed Reid was fired.
The same day, police Sgt. Amy Davis obtained a 72-hour protective order to shield Reid's wife and child from him. Three days later, Reid's wife obtained her own protective order for another 20 days.
"He has suicidal thoughts daily and is emotionally unstable," she wrote March 5 in her petition. "I am worried about the safety of myself and child." The next day, she tried to rescind the order but the judge kept it in place.
On Thursday, a man who answered Reid's cell phone indicated he was Reid and claimed he still served as a police officer, working a night shift as recently as last week. However, city officials said that is not true. The man said he never left Alaska, still lives with his wife and that the protective order lasted just a couple of days. After discussing the situation for several minutes, he said he only wanted to speak in person. But when a reporter attempted to set up a meeting place, he said he was someone else and there was no reason to meet.
The Bethel Police Department began investigating the incident after receiving a complaint the day it happened from Linda Green, an anthropology professor from Arizona doing research last summer in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
She is seen in the video on the road in front of the AC store. She said she stopped when she spotted a stooped man walking unsteadily, drew closer to see if it was an elder, and was horrified at what transpired, calling it police abuse.
In an interview Thursday from Arizona, Green said Reid initially had trouble getting the man handcuffed, but he was able to do so when a second man came to help. That man, who appears in the video, hasn't been identified but both Green and Ingaldson said he may have worked for the Department of Corrections.
But even when Gregory was handcuffed on the ground, with the second man on the scene, the abuse did not stop, Green said.
"The big guy steps backwards and we see Reid several times continuing to smash the guy and his hands were cuffed," Green said.
The video closely tracks her complaint but has more impact, she said.
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, police said they thoroughly investigated Green's complaint. The city said it obtained the video Aug. 29.
On Dec. 15, "a personnel decision was made," but because of personnel rules and due process rights, the city cannot go into detail about it, the statement said.
The investigation file was sent to the FBI for review, the city said. Reached Thursday evening, an FBI spokeswoman, Staci Feger-Pellessier, confirmed the file was received but said the FBI didn't have any further comment.
Brown said in the court filing that he was told in August that no video of the arrest existed. Then about two weeks ago he learned there was one but that the Alaska Commercial Co. had provided its only copy to Bethel police on a hard drive. When the retailer retrieved the hard drive, it had been erased, the court filing said. A Bethel computer technician was able to recover the video from the hard drive for Brown.
KYUK's news director, Daysha Eaton, who broke the story about the video, obtained a civil anti-stalking protective order Wednesday to keep the officer, Reid, away. Her petition to the court said that Reid threatened her when she attempted to interview him and said he wanted to "confront" her at the radio station.
On Thursday, Reid sought a protective order against Eaton, accusing her of coming onto his property and harassing him "to dig for information for her news articles." Magistrate Judge Bruce Ward ordered Reid to stay away from Eaton's work and home but denied Reid's petition, finding insufficient evidence that he was a victim of stalking.
The station has locked its doors and is allowing employees to work from home the rest of the week, said KYUK general manager Mike Martz. The station's popular "Talk Line Friday" call-in program likely will not air this week because of the situation, but otherwise programming should continue as normal, Martz said. No news stories were posted on KYUK's website Wednesday, but the video and a story about it were published early Thursday.
Alaska Dispatch News requested a copy of any video along with other records in August 2014 but never received a copy from the city.
After the altercation, Interim City Manager Greg Moyer directed that all police officers wear body cameras to record encounters.
Last summer, Bethel's tribe, Orutsaramiut Native Council, said it was concerned for community members who felt threatened by police and asked people to come forward about any mistreatment of Alaska Native people. Police needed cultural sensitivity training, the tribe said.
"We will eventually do it," Police Chief Achee said Thursday. He said the department is struggling just to cover shifts. He has only three patrol officers on the streets, with two more in training. Another three patrol positions are open, he said.
One of those who testified last summer about their outrage over the altercation was Gregory's sister, Agnes Gregory.
"Today's been a hard day for our family," Agnes wrote Thursday in response to a Facebook message seeking comment. "I watched the video, and cringed at how he was handled."
She followed up later.
"Regardless of who we are, we all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect," she wrote.