St. Paul cop charged with punching handcuffed teen girl

A St. Paul police officer called to a shelter for sexually exploited girls punched a handcuffed 14-year-old in the face twice after she spit on him, according to assault charges filed Monday.

Officer Michael P. Soucheray II, 38, of Woodbury, was charged by the Minneapolis city attorney's office on Monday with one count of misdemeanor fifth-degree assault in the December incident.

Soucheray was issued a summons in Ramsey County District Court, meaning he will be allowed to appear in court for an arraignment on March 16 in lieu of being arrested.

He currently is on paid administrative leave, effective Monday, while an internal affairs investigation remains open and active, St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell confirmed in a statement.

"As the department has demonstrated time and time again, when incidents occur that do not meet those standards, swift and decisive action is taken to hold ourselves accountable," Axtell said in a statement.

The incident occurred at 8:46 p.m. on Dec. 1. Soucheray later was removed from patrol duties in the Eastern District.

According to the complaint, police were called to Brittany's Place, a shelter for sexually exploited girls from 10 to 17 years old, in the 1200 block of E. 7th St. because a girl was possibly suicidal. Soucheray tried to speak with the girl, who was in the vestibule, but she refused.

Soucheray and his partner, officer Chris Rhoades, spoke with an employee. The girl didn't want to go to the hospital and became agitated and refused to get in an ambulance.

Soucheray told the girl that the officers would take her to the hospital. The officers handcuffed the girl and escorted her to their squad where she refused to get in.

The girl "was screaming and crying throughout this process," the complaint said.

The girl went limp, and Soucheray grabbed her by the arm, pulled her into the squad and sat her up, according to the complaint.

The girl then spat in Soucheray's face.

"The defendant then struck [the girl] two times in the face with a closed fist causing her pain," the complaint said. "The defendant also grabbed [her] by the jaw and/or face/neck area. The defendant called [her] a [expletive] [expletive]."

St. Paul Police spokesman Steve Linders said the incident was captured on squad car video. The Minneapolis city attorney is handling the case to avoid any conflict of interest.

"In this case, the department wanted to be very deliberate about the actions taken in response," Linders said. "There's a process that needs to play out, and we're letting that process move forward."

Rhoades was not charged in the incident and remains on patrol.

Daniel Pfarr, president and CEO of 180 Degrees, the organization that runs Brittany's Place, said it was an isolated incident in the years they've worked with St. Paul police. None of the other girls witnessed the incident, but the staff member who did was "very upset," Pfarr said.

"There was a response from chief Axtell within hours that they were going to do an internal investigation," Pfarr said.

Soucheray's attorney, Peter Wold, said the officer used reasonable force, and the charge is based on "a self-defense reaction to a screaming, threatening subject immediately after she had committed a felony assault on officer Soucheray by intentionally spitting her saliva into his face.

"Officer Soucheray pushed her away by striking her with such little force that not even a mark appeared on her in the booking photo of her taken within an hour of the incident," Wold said. " ... officer Soucheray regrets the attention this political reaction may bring to his fellow officers at the St Paul Police Department and does assure them that he will defend himself vigorously against this unfortunate action."

Minneapolis attorney Bob Bennett, who has represented several clients in police use-of-force lawsuits, said he rarely has seen officers charged with assault in his 40 years of practice.

"I'll see some goofy conduct when officers get spit on," said Bennett, who is not representing the girl. "It's reflexive. They just lose their stuff. You're going against training and policy when you're hitting someone in the face, especially someone who's 14 years old and a female. That's out there."

Soucheray was hired by the department in late 2007. He was disciplined in August 2016 when his squad struck a parked car, in April 2014 for getting into an accident while driving at an "unsafe speed" and in January 2012 for failing to attend a court trial.

Dave Titus, president of the St. Paul Police Federation, said Soucheray is "an outstanding officer with a very good reputation."

Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708

Twitter: @ChaoStrib