Criminal charges say fired Tacoma cops told woman to ‘beat the demons’ out of her grandson
Two fired Tacoma police officers accused of telling a Tacoma woman to beat her 9-year-old grandson with a belt face felony charges of third-degree assault of a child, as well as coercion and official misconduct — both gross misdemeanors.
The charges filed Tuesday in Pierce County Superior Court stem from a June 2017 incident. Officers Jesse Jahner, 34, and Damion Birge, 42, responded to a 911 call involving the boy, who reportedly has developmental disabilities and the intellectual capacity of a 4-year-old.
Birge, a 12-year veteran of the department, demonstrated how to use the belt by smacking it on a table four times, charging papers state. Two social workers from Catholic Community Services witnessed the incident.
One witness said Birge instructed the woman to “beat the demons” out of the boy. Jahner, a nine-year department veteran, held the boy down on a couch to make it easier for the woman to strike him.
“Birge and Jahner began yelling at her to get a belt almost as soon as they arrived,” charging papers state. “Birge and Jahner told her that if she didn’t, the police would no longer respond to her home.”
Accounts from witnesses reveal previously undisclosed details of the criminal investigation, conducted in 2017 by the Washington State Patrol to avoid potential conflicts of interest locally. For similar reasons, Pierce County prosecutors forwarded the case to the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office for a charging decision.
The State Patrol completed the investigation in September 2017 and forwarded it to Thurston prosecutors later that year. The charging decision was delayed for bureaucratic reasons, including employee turnover, according to deputy prosecutor Jeffrey Lippert.
In the interim, Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell fired both officers on Oct. 24, 2018, following a separate internal investigation. The News Tribune has requested records of that investigation, which remained exempt from public disclosure while Thurston County prosecutors assessed the criminal case.
Attorney David Allen, who represents Jahner, said his client will plead not guilty. He contends that Thurston County prosecutors dragged their feet on the charging decision. Birge’s attorney declined to comment.
“This case was fully investigated a year and a half ago, and it’s ridiculous that we haven’t had our day in court yet,” Allen said. “No crime was committed by Jesse Jahner. He’s a hard-working, dedicated professional police officer. The way he was trained was to suggest to parents or guardians that they could use corporal punishment.”
Charging papers note that the initial report filed by Jahner didn’t mention any discipline of the boy — an omission that might have factored into Ramsdell’s firing decision. A second supplemental report filed by Jahner at the request of a superior included more detail. Charging papers provide a fuller account backed by the woman and witnesses.
The boy was transported to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital after the incident, the charging papers state. A social worker at the hospital noted bruises on his body and called police, raising the specter of intervention by state Child Protective Services.
At that point, the grandmother explained to police and the hospital that she had beaten her grandson at the urging of the officers and felt she could not refuse.
Officers had responded to the woman’s home before; the boy had a history of unruly behavior. On June 5, the woman asked Catholic Community Services to keep an eye on him while she walked across the street to pick up a prescription, records state.
The workers arrived. The woman left. Moments later, the boy locked the workers out of the house.
“(The boy) began to scream and yell at them, refusing their requests,” charging papers state. “(He) began breaking windows in the residence and throwing dishes around. (The social worker) called 911 after he became concerned that (the boy) armed himself with a knife.”
The grandmother returned. She persuaded the boy to unlock the door and drop the knife, charging papers state. When officers arrived, she was sitting with him in the living room, amid fragments of shattered glass and plates. Reportedly, the boy kicked and screamed at his grandmother as she tried to discipline him. She told the officers she feared for her life, charging papers state.
Jahner’s supplemental report notes that Birge asked one of the social workers if he had ever been disciplined as a child.
“Yeah, I’m from Africa,” the social worker replied. Jahner’s report also accused the social workers of “doing a disservice” to the woman and the boy because they told her not to use physical discipline.
“Birge picked up the belt, stating he would show (the woman) ‘how it’s done,’ striking the table four times,” charging papers state. “At one point, Jahner held (the boy) face-down into the couch cushions to expose (the boy’s) buttocks to (the woman’s) strikes as (the boy) was squirming around. Birge indicated that if the squirming continued, (the woman) should wait until (the boy) slept and hit him with a belt when he was sleeping.”
The witnesses said the boy was struck 20 to 25 times, charging papers state.
Allen, the attorney representing Jahner, said he intends to present evidence that the officers were following instructions from higher up regarding cases involving younger juveniles and told not to take them to juvenile detention. He also contends that the rare charge of coercion lacks foundation.
“This thing is terribly overcharged,” he said. “(Jahner) and other officers were told by a prosecutor not to bring kids this age to Remann Hall because they were just going to release them back to parents. (Jahner) did his best under very difficult circumstances trying to help the grandmother. He never struck this boy himself.”
Both officers are scheduled for arraignment Feb. 1.
This story was originally published January 23, 2019 at 11:48 AM.
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