Redding police body camera footage shows use of force during misdemeanor arrest

In June of this year, a man sitting on a curb near the GuestPlace Inn & Suites off Cypress Street in Redding was approached by three police officers, one of whom detained him and searched his belongings. Confused, the man asked what had happened to precipitate the search. 

“You were trespassing on private property,” the officer answered matter-of-factly. 

Unbeknownst to officers at the time, the actual subject of the officer’s call to service was walking his dog mere feet away. 

Earlier that night, 39-year-old Daniel Maher had entered a Speedway gas station, where he filmed himself confronting a clerk with whom he claims to have had past tense interactions over gender identity. She asked him to leave then called police to accuse him of trespassing, telling police she’s tired of him coming in and filming her.

Three policemen responded to that call for service. What ensued after, their interrogations of two bystanders in a search for the suspect and their eventual arrest of Maher — which left him with two broken ribs  — was captured on the officers’ body-worn cameras. 

During the process of reporting a first story on Maher’s arrest earlier this summer, RPD denied Shasta Scout access to body-worn camera footage related to the arrest.

In response, the nonprofit First Amendment Coalition issued a legal demand on Shasta Scout’s behalf, reminding RPD that police interactions resulting in serious injury — including broken bones — fall under a California transparency law that requires public disclosure. 

The City of Redding complied with the legal demand, releasing the footage to both Maher and Shasta Scout in October.

What the video shows 

Police released nine videos of officers’ interactions that night. In snippets ranging from 1-12 minutes, the clips give viewers a partial look into police interactions before, during and after Maher’s arrest — which occurred around midnight on June 28. 

Some of the footage shows RPD officers stopping other subjects for the alleged crime they would eventually arrest Maher for — one of whom they detained and then later released. Additional clips show Maher’s arrest and transport to jail, a conversation with Maher that occurred at the jail, as well as a brief police interview with the Speedway clerk.

The footage reveals insights into police interactions on the darkened streets of Redding, and the rarely-seen process of booking at the fatality-ridden Shasta County Jail. 

It also captures a number of policing decisions, including one officer’s apparent failure to appropriately activate his body-worn camera, several officers exchanging insults with Maher before he was a known suspect, and the use of pain compliance techniques and other forms of force during his arrest. 

Shasta Scout’s explanation of the videos in this story is informed by context provided in a formal police report, which alleges that Maher resisted and delayed his arrest — a claim Maher denies. The video footage also provides additional details of the arrest that were not included in the report.

RPD Chief Brian Barner declined Shasta Scout’s request for comment on specifics of police conduct in these videos, citing an ongoing internal RPD investigation that was launched months ago in response to Maher’s formal complaint. 

After the uphill battle to obtain the footage, Maher says he’s pleased that the public will now have access to footage of his arrest. “Perception is your own subjective experience, and it’s always interesting how people will view the same exact video,” he said, noting that people should form their own conclusions.  

“I think the video speaks for itself,” Maher added. “I don’t need to clutter it up with my big mouth.”  

Scene 1: The pursuit of an unknown suspect

In the first video scene of the night, RPD Officer Dylan Johnson pulls into a dark parking lot near the Speedway convenience store. He’s there in response to a call from a clerk about an alleged trespasser. Shining his flashlight into the face of an unnamed man, Johnson interrogates him, asking the subject if he had refused to leave the store. When someone calls from the darkness that the officer has the wrong guy, the officer moves to leave the scene. “Why do you always cause problems?” Johnson asks the man, before pulling away.

Officer Johnson’s body-worn camera shows an encounter with an unnamed man near a Speedway gas station where a clerk had accused Maher of trespassing.

Scene 2: Hurling insults 

In the second set of videos, Officer Ray Maready has detained a second subject for the alleged trespassing. Maher can be seen in the background, wearing a pair of distinctive pink pants, walking his dog and using his cell phone to film the officers. 

Two of the officers stand guard at the scene, instructing Maher to move along, noting his pink pants, and asking him, “do you identify as a sir?” One officer is also heard threatening to pepper spray Maher if he comes any closer. 

Maher can be seen complying with police commands, but also hurling taunts of his own, telling one officer he identifies as their “daddy” and could take his pink pants off for them if they wish, drawing both laughter and a rebuke. 

Officer Maready’s body-worn camera captures his questioning of an unnamed man outside the GuestPlace Inn & Suites, while two other officers speak with Maher who stops to film.

Officer Johnson’s body-worn camera shows a terse encounter that RPD officers had with Maher. Johnson is one of two officers who slammed Maher to the ground during his arrest and transport.

Scene 3: Pepper sprayed, cuffed, and slammed on the pavement 

In the third set of videos, officers are seen encountering Maher at the GuestPlace Inn & Suites —  where he was living at the time — and informing him he is under arrest. 

The video shows Maher walking to the officers where Officer Maready pulls Maher’s arm behind his back, immediately bending his wrist into what resembles a “wrist lock.” As Maher appears to lurch forward from the pressure of the hold, Officer Johnson stands in front of the suspect and can be seen pepper spraying him.

Maready then escorts Maher down a hotel walkway, pulling his hands upward at an angle from behind as he goes. Maher can be heard yelling, “let go of me!” before Officer Maready sweeps him off his feet, dropping him onto his right ribs. 

The officer is then seen lifting Maher and continuing to escort him to the car, forcing his arms and cuffed wrists upward at an even more severe angle. Maher responds by shrieking out in pain. “I’m hurt!” as officers accuse him of “pulling away.” 

Once in Johnson’s squad car, Maher can be heard telling the officer that he’s injured and can’t breath. “That’s the pepper spray my guy,” Johnson says, to which Maher says, “it’s not the pepper spray, it’s my lung.” As Maher wails in pain, the officer tells him to calm down. He asks Maher to describe his pain and injury, and talks about possibly calling an ambulance. 

Officer Maready’s body-worn camera documents the scene as he handcuffs Maher and sweeps him off his feet.

Officer Johnson’s body-worn camera captures the moment Maher was handcuffed, pepper sprayed, and swept to the ground from a different angle.

Of note, the videos from scene 3 show RPD officers engaging in multiple uses of force including an apparent wrist lock, the use of pepper spray, and the physical takedown of Maher. Such force can be legal.

According to state law, police departments must provide training on de-escalation techniques and require that “officers utilize deescalation techniques, crisis intervention tactics, and other alternatives to force when feasible.” The law states that officers should only escalate a situation with an amount of force that is proportional to the “seriousness of the suspected offense or the reasonably perceived level of actual or threatened resistance.”

On the use of pepper spray, RPD policy states that it “[should not] be used against individuals or groups who … do not reasonably appear to present a risk to the safety of officers or the public.” Regarding pain compliance techniques, the policy states that one of the considerations that officers should make is “whether the person has been given sufficient opportunity to comply.”  When utilizing a takedown, the policy states that officers must accurately report if such use of force results in “any visible bodily injury or complaint of bodily injury (non-visible injury).”

Scene 4: The Shasta County Jail

The next set of videos show arresting officers arriving at the Shasta County Jail with Maher. 

In the building’s loading dock, Johnson is seen ordering Maher out of the squad car in a parking garage at the jail. After his first takedown by police, Maher now appears unable to easily walk, halting momentarily and wincing in pain, something which prompts the officer to grab his arm. Maher can be heard screaming out “my back hurts, don’t touch me, don’t touch me!” 

The officers then force Maher to the ground a second time. As a hand pushes his head against the floor, one of the officers says, “we’re gonna go where we tell you to go. Do you understand that? We’re done with your games.” 

Officer Johnson’s body-worn camera captures the moment he forced Maher to the ground a second time at the Shasta County Jail.

Once handcuffed and seated on a bench, Maher is seen being questioned by RPD Corporal Chad Gross about the incident. Neither the police report nor police video documents Maher being read his miranda rights.The Supreme Court ruled in 1966 that suspects in custody must be read these rights prior to questioning. 

A space on Maher’s jail intake form where officers are supposed to note any use of force during the arrest was also left blank. 

What happened next 

Maher was released from jail within a few hours and called a ride share service to take him back to his residence. Ongoing rib pain and difficulty breathing led him to call an ambulance some hours later. At the hospital the next morning, the results of CT scans indicated Maher had fractured two ribs on his right side. On July 15, about three weeks after the incident, Maher filed a formal complaint against the officers involved in his arrest. 

About two months later, on Sept. 9, the District Attorney filed misdemeanor charges against Maher on allegations that he trespassed and resisted an officer. He has pleaded not guilty. His next status hearing is scheduled for Dec. 29.

---

Do you have information or a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.