St. Paul, MN — On Monday, a St. Paul police officer was charged with misdemeanor assault after he punched a handcuffed child in the face twice while she was getting placed in the back of his squad car.
Officer Michael Soucheray II has been placed on administrative duty after punching the 14-year-old girl for allegedly spitting on him. The 14-year-old was at the East Side shelter for girls when police responded to a call of a suicidal girl.
According to the criminal complaint, as reported by WCCO, officers were trying to take the girl to a hospital because she was reportedly suicidal, but she refused to go and became agitated, screaming and at one point going limp.
Because the girl, who was clearly in the midst of a psychological crisis, refused to get into an ambulance, police force was escalated.
When Soucheray told the girl that police would be taking her, the girl said she was not going and officers handcuffed her. They escorted her to a squad car, and the teen was screaming and crying, according to the complaint.
The girl then spat into Soucheray’s face, and instead of maintaining his composure, knowingly dealing with a traumatized girl in a diminished mental state, this cop grabbed her by the neck and punched her in the face — twice.
