SEATTLE — A Washington state police officer who has repeatedly been accused of using excessive force has now been indicted on a federal criminal charge that he pepper-sprayed a person who was under arrest and restrained in a hospital gurney.
The indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Thursday charges Officer Nicholas Hogan, a former Tukwila officer who is now on the force in Snoqualmie, with one count of deprivation of rights under color of law, stemming from an incident at the Harborview Medical Center’s emergency room on May 20, 2011.
The Tukwila Police Department fired Hogan in 2013 after the city settled two lawsuits accusing him of excessive force. Neither case is part of the indictment.
In one of those cases, in April 2011, Hogan was accused of stomping on and breaking the ankle of a man he was arresting, saying “this one will never play basketball again” — actions the officer denied. In the other case, less than two months later, Hogan was accused of breaking the elbow of a man he was arresting using a “bent-arm takedown.”
