Omaha Police officer on administrative leave after arrest posted on social media

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - A veteran Omaha Police officer has been placed on leave as the department conducts an internal investigation into the use of force during a Tuesday arrest.

According to an OPD release issued Wednesday evening, Officer Tyler Hansen, a 14-year veteran assigned to the uniform patrol bureau, was placed on paid administrative leave.

“He has had no previous use of force violations,” the release states.

OPD Chief Todd Schmaderer was made aware of the incident Tuesday evening and “immediately asked for involved officers to be identified,” according to a Wednesday afternoon release from OPD. The video has been circulating on social media, the earlier release states.

“Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer was made aware yesterday evening of a now circulating social media video related to an arrest that took place Tuesday, June 21, 2022. Chief Schmaderer immediately asked for the involved officers to be identified and has authorized an internal investigation into the incident.”

According to the police report on the incident, two officers were sent at 2:29 p.m. Tuesday to Atlas Apartments, located near 30th and California streets, in response to report of juveniles trespassing at the pool of a private apartment complex, who had left by the time the officers arrived. Staff at the scene told police that the juveniles had committed vandalism there, showing the officers surveillance video. At 2:57 p.m., one of those officers and Officer Hansen were sent to a residence about five blocks away after the called told OPD dispatchers that several white juveniles showed up at his door asking about a missing or stolen iPad, about which the man said he had no knowledge. The youths “continued causing a disturbance anyway... were aggressive and refused to leave,” so the man called police, the report states.

Officers said they spoke with six juveniles “loitering at the intersection of 33rd and Burt,” and one of the officers “recognized that several of the juveniles were present in the video” they saw on the surveillance video and verbally warned them about trespassing there, the report states. He also confirmed that at least some in the group had been involved in the disturbance at the residence.

According to the OPD report, the group was beginning to disperse when one officer observed a juvenile “approaching purposefully” from near the residence, yelling profanity, making profane gestures, and “acting aggressively,” telling the officers, “You can’t do anything to me.”

The youth was warned about his behavior and was told to leave but refused and incited the others to begin yelling profanities and to create a disturbance, the OPD report states. He then lunged toward one of the officers and was pushed away, and was taken into custody when he lunged again.

While being placed in handcuffs, he “kicked, fought, and struggled to get free,” the report states. Once he was secured, Officer Hansen arrived and escorted him to the police cruiser and “continued to struggle and threatened/attempted to spit on Ofc Hansen. Ultimately [name redacted] was secured without additional incidents,” the OPD report states.

The other officer was wearing a body camera, but it was knocked to the ground during his struggle with the youth placed in custody, the report states, noting that the juvenile had threatened to take his camera and acted like he was going to kick it or attempt to damage it.

VIDEO EXCERPT

The video 6 News obtained of the incident starts recording when the officer is already at the 12-year-old boy’s back, who appears to be handcuffed or is in the process of being handcuffed. The youth then struggles with the officer, at which point, the group of youngsters nearby appears to be giving the officer a hard time. At one point, the kid on the ground can be heard shouting, “Everybody hates cops,” and another kid appears to flip off the officer.

The officer seems to be waiting for backup, and that other officer shows up about two minutes into the full recording and pushes the kid into the police SUV.

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Reporter Brian Mastre contributed to this article.

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