Perception was the word of the day during the ongoing trial for Monongalia County Sheriff’s Deputy Lance Kuretza who is accused of allegedly violating the constitutional rights of Quintin Graciano by using excessive force during a January 2018 arrest at a Morgantown hotel and falsifying reports on the arrest.
The third day of the trial before Chief United States District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh at the U.S. District Courthouse in Wheeling, began with continued testimony from Mon County Deputy Ethan Mongold and testimony from former Deputy Isaac Coe, who has since left the department. Both were involved in Graciano’s arrest.
Both deputies were questioned by attorneys about their personal perception of the events that occurred the evening of Jan. 20, 2018, during the arrest of Graciano at the Residence Inn in Morgantown.
Deputy Mongold said officers received a call for a fight in one of the rooms at the hotel and were advised someone had made threats involving a firearm, so he went into the situation with a heightened sense of awareness due to the possibility of a firearm.
On scene, deputies cleared out one room of individuals who were intoxicated before being alerted to another individual inside a second room occupied by the group, where Mongold and Kuretza found Graciano laying on the bed.
Footage from the body camera worn by Kuretza that night shows the officers entering the room, announcing themselves, then approaching Graciano, tapping his feet and shining lights on him while telling him to wake up several times before he began flailing. As a struggle begins, Kuretza’s camera shuts off. Mongold said he was not wearing a camera that evening due to his still downloading previous footage at the one docking station the department had at the time.
Mongold explained that while they now know Graciano was asleep, deputies entered the room not knowing whether the individual was sleeping, passed out, or simply faking it, which he had seen happen before.
After Kuretza announced the presence of the Sheriff’s Department several times and told Graciano to wake up, Mongold said he perceived Graciano to be awake and aware of their presence, but the man continued to flail and swing at them. At one point, Mongold said, Graciano struck Kuretza, which is probable cause for an arrest.
When met with resistance during an arrest, Mongold said it is like “an instant adrenaline spike,” which many times continues to ramp up until the arrest is made.
Because Mongold was not wearing a camera and Kuretza’s camera stopped filming — which was said to not be uncommon during an altercation where it could easily get bumped into — there is no footage of what happened inside the room before Deputy Isaac Coe entered.
During his testimony, Coe said he entered the room to assist Kuretza and Mongold after hearing a commotion and found the deputies wrestling with Graciano and trying to contain him inside the bathroom.
Mongold said he could not recall how the trio had gotten from the bed to the bathroom area, but even after Kuretza used a punch to the left side of his face, Graciano continued to pull his right arm toward his waistband. Mongold said this was concerning because of the report of a possible gun on scene.
When Coe entered, he said he jumped in to assist and delivered two knee strikes to the left side of Graciano’s ribcage in order to gain control of his left hand.
At this point in Coe’s body camera footage, one of the deputies, allegedly Kuretza, can be heard saying “That’s the solution … that’s the problem solver man, right there, that’s the problem solver.”
Shortly after, all three deputies — visibly and audibly winded from the struggle — back off of Graciano, who is now handcuffed on the ground. A few seconds later, Graciano allegedly begins kicking again and another struggle ensues after which coughing can be heard.
Neither Mongold nor Coe claim to have actually seen Kuretza use pepper on spray on Graciano. Coe said he only knew at some point “it got very difficult to breathe.”
Mongold said he knew that Graciano was sprayed post handcuffing, which he noted in his reports, and agreed that some level of force was still necessary post-handcuffing. But he didn’t think pepper spray or knee strikes were necessary or justified after the cuffs were on.
Mongold said every time he watches the video, he sees something new. He added that had he believed he witnessed a crime he would have reported it.
Coe said he believed and still believes Graciano was being non-compliant the entire time — from the room to the police cruiser.
Both deputies mentioned that at the time in department, practice sometimes trumped policy. Coe said he felt at the time they needed to have more use of force training than the required one day a year.
Directly after the deputies’ testimony, the jury heard the story from Graciano’s perception as he answered questions about his thoughts and feelings throughout the experience.
Graciano said it was meant to be one last weekend partying with friends before his new wife gave birth to their first child. After drinking all day and at some point in the evening obtaining and smoking marijuana, Graciano, accompanied by one of his friends, returned to the hotel inebriated and needing help to get into bed.
When he woke to lights flashing in his face, Graciano said he first thought it was his friends trying to wake him to continue drinking. He remembered shoving someone thinking it was a friend. He said he would not have done so had he known it was a law enforcement officer.
In fact, Graciano claimed, he did not realize he was dealing with law enforcement until they were taking him out of the hotel to the police cruiser. He said he actually thought it was a group of people trying to rob or kill him because he “didn’t think law enforcement would do that.”
During the altercation, Graciano said he couldn’t count the number of times he was hit by the deputies but just remembered crying and pleading “please stop, please stop, I’m not resisting” when told to stop resisting.
After he was brought to the sheriff’s department for booking, Graciano alleged Kuretza was hostile and short with him, made fun of him, kept calling him by the wrong name, and saying he ruined his night.
After not being accepted to North Central Regional Jail due to his condition, Graciano said he continued to refuse the medical care offered because he felt it was implied that the sooner he saw a magistrate judge, the sooner he would be released. But, he said, he eventually did go to a hospital near his home in Cranberry, Pa. It took him six months to recover from his injuries, he said.
In a previous civil suit, Graciano sued Kuretza and others at the Mon County Sheriff’s Department and reached a $175,000 settlement.
Testimony continues today with a conclusion likely next week.
