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An internal affairs investigation has begun in the Ogden City Police Department into officer Kenneth Hammond.
Today's press conference stems from the lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court where a woman claimed officer Hammond used excessive force and assaulted her during a confrontation.
Today, the Ogden City Police Department announced it will look into that complaint. Natasha Child claims while her husband was being arrested on May 18, 2008, officer Hammond threw her to the ground, pulled her pants down and pushed her against his patrol car. Child said, "He slammed me to the ground with all his weight. He pulled my pants down. He pushed me up against the car."
This morning, the Ogden police department said it received a copy of Child's federal lawsuit. It also said it's important to keep in mind officer Hammond is innocent until proven guilty and that complaints against police officers were fairly common.
Ogden Assistant Police Chief Randy Watt said, "Keep in mind this is a constant thing with law enforcement officers. You can go to any police department and find numerous allegations against officers by people. Some of these allegations occasionally have found true. Most do not."
Watt said he knew the woman was upset because she came in to file formal charges, but she never followed through on them until now. He said, "She had come in to begin that process. She sat down with a watch commander. He gave her the appropriate forms to fill out to make the formal complaint. He went out of the office for a while. When he came back, she was gone, and she never came back, and she never turned in the forms."
Watt wouldn't discuss the details of the case regarding the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday against officer Hammond. He said, "There is no indication, at the current time, that he has done anything wrong, and we are making no judgments in that direction."
He added, "We will do a complete investigation, and we will determine whether or not policies, procedures or laws have been broken."
Watt pointed out the only reason why this case is getting a little more scrutiny than other cases was because of officer Hammond's notoriety involving the Trolley Square shootings on Feb. 12, 2007. He helped take down shooter Sulejman Talovic.
Child said she had no idea who Hammond was until she went to the police department to file a formal complaint against him. Child claimed a female officer told her not to back down. Child claimed, "She said, 'Please don't drop this. He's done this numerous times, but nobody has followed through.'"
Hammond is already on paid administrative leave and has been for three weeks on an unrelated case. Watt wouldn't discuss the details of that complaint.
As for those rumors that officer Hammond has done this before, Watt said if that was the case, Hammond would no longer be working for the department.
Hammond arrested Child, and she was charged with disorderly conduct, public intoxication, resisting a police officer and interfering with a police officer on that night, but a judge dropped them all.
E-mail: acabrero@ksl.com
E-mail: mgiauque@ksl.com
