A police officer accused of physically attacking a 13-year-old soccer referee pleaded guilty in court Thursday.

Officer Keith Spears pleaded guilty to an amended charge of harassment, which is not considered a misdemeanor, but a violation. He was originally charged with harassment with physical contact.

Spears has taken a lot of heat from the public after police say he lost his cool after a girl's soccer game last Fall and put his hands on Nathaniel Rase, twisting the boy's arm behind his back.

Spears could lose his job over the incident, depending on a decision from the police chief. He will have to pay a $250 fine and make a $750 donation to the Kentucky Youth Soccer Association.

Spears also apologized to the 13-year-old. He said he was sorry and spoke directly to the ref.

"I'd like to extend an apology to the referee's family. It's was never my intention to have any of this result in any type of conflict. I apologize to you and I'm sorry it happened," he said.

The Scott County 8th grader said he accepts the officer's apology and hopes everyone will take something away from this unfortunate post-game encounter, no matter the sport.

Nathaniel is already back refereeing and believes this experience has helped him. He thanks everyone from the soccer league to friends and strangers for supporting him. And as for officer Spears,

"I hope he still allows his kid to play soccer," Nathaniel said.

The county has paid $727,500 to settle a civil rights lawsuit by a South County woman who accused sheriff’s deputies of storming her house, slamming her face into the ground, taking her to jail and seizing her children – all because she refused to answer the door.

Nancy Butano’s lawsuit – stemming from her arrest Feb. 2, 2010, inside her home in San Juan Capistrano – is one of a series of excessive force complaints against South County sheriff’s deputies that have cost Orange County taxpayers more than $5.7 million in settlements and verdicts in the past four years.

...

The deputies identified the suspect as Butano’s boyfriend, veterinarian Paul Luddy, and arrested him after he stepped out of the house. He did not have the knife with him, said court papers.

Stumph and Martino returned to the open door and heard Butano speaking on a wireless telephone. They called her to the door, but she declined, saying she was on an important business call. The deputies continued urging her to come to the door. And she continued to refuse.

In her lawsuit, Butano said the deputies entered the home, shouting, cursing and telling her to get off the telephone. She told them that she did not invite them in and did not want them there.

Stumph grabbed Butano, described as 35 years old and 120 pounds, and they both ended up going out of the home’s open sliding glass door into the back yard, court papers say. She said the deputy slammed her head against an outdoor sauna and smashed her face five times into the ground while handcuffing her, his knee on her back.

In court documents, the deputies said they entered because they feared that evidence – the knife – was being destroyed or hidden, one of the conditions allowed for warrantless entry under Fourth Amendment search and seizure laws. The deputies also said they were concerned with the safety of the children, given the missing knife.

As deputies escorted Butano outside to a patrol car, a neighbor asked why she was being arrested. Stumph replied, “She’s a bitch … she wouldn’t go with the program,” said the court summary.

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A witness shot the video on a cell phone. It shows the final moments of the standoff, when deputies were ordering Manuel Longoria to surrender. The deputies had their weapons drawn and fired five bean bag rounds at the suspect, in addition to Taser rounds.

Longoria appeared to be moving his arms around, and did not appear to be cooperating with the deputies. Seconds later, the video shows Longoria turn his back on the deputies and raise both hands into the air, high over his head. One second later, a lone deputy fired two shots, killing Longoria.

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But a former DPS and Scottsdale Police Officer Jess Torrez disagreed after viewing the video.

“You have multiple police officers on the scene and only one person makes the shot. That tells me that other officers at the scene did not feel there was justification to use deadly physical force,” said Torrez.

Torrez said despite Longoria’s behavior during the chase and initial part of the standoff, the only actions that were central to a decision to shoot, occurred right before the deputy opened fire.

“Officers are taught to look at the hands first and foremost. So if his hands are up in the air, he doesn’t have anything in them. How do they justify using deadly force?” asked Torrez.

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