Nine months ago, a Coeur d’Alene couple went to the hospital for an allergic reaction, but medical staff thought they were drunk in public, according to a police report.
By the time it was all over, the two, Lindsay and Harrison McLean, were in the back of a squad car, charged with attacking a police officer.
But the couple says, they were the ones that were threatened.
KHQ has obtained the two officers body cams from that night, Coeur d’Alene Officers Emily Taylor and Jacob Proctor.
The two officers were dispatched to Kootenai Health when the hospital staff called 911 and said the McLean’s had driven drunk and parked the wrong way in the hospital entrance, court documents say.
Things took a drastic turn once officers entered the waiting room.
“I felt more of a need to protect my spouse, more than my own safety and make no mistake I understand the severity of getting physical with law enforcement officer but at the same time, there’s two sides to every scenario,” Harrison said.
Lindsay says her husband had an allergic reaction to a drink he had at a bonfire that night so she drove him to the hospital.
Lindsay told police she had four beers, the police report said.
“We were celebrating our anniversary that day, we had two beers with lunch, we went antique shopping, came home, sat on the patio, had a beer,” Lindsay said, “and then that’s when we were asked to go to a friends house, at that friends house I had one drink.”
“Four beers over the span of eight hours,” Harrison added.
Lindsay says while they were waiting for help, a receptionist made light of her husband’s condition and that’s when she responded.
“At that time, I addressed it, and she threatened to have me arrested,” Lindsay said.
When police showed up, the McLean’s say they calmly talked with the officers and the couple’s friends showed up to drive them home.
“I told him I wasn’t driving, I had friends there to pick us up and at that point he grabbed my arm, threw me over a chair and then exposed me,” she said.
Several surveillance cameras also captured the incident.
McLean says Officer Proctor didn’t give her any verbal commands until after he grabbed her, exposing her underwear in the process in the waiting room.
Harrison attempted to break it up and a scuffle broke out.
Coeur d’Alene Police Captain David Hagar says by then, Officer Proctor had probable cause to arrest her.
“When she turned that way he wanted to gain control because she’s starting to get a little bit louder, ‘we’re walking out of here right now’,” Hagar said, “she’s making those statements and we can’t allow that to occur and at that point in time and you can hear it on the video, he tells her that she is under arrest.”
Captain Hagar says per protocol, they review any use of force incident to see if an officer’s actions are excessive.
In this case, Hagar says police determined the officers acted appropriately.
“It was reported within 24 hours through our use of force board and reviewed the video and based on the aggressive, assault, battery behavior against our officers,” Hagar said, “you simply just can’t batter an officer.”
Hagar says Officer Proctor only punched Harrison McLean until Harrison let go so that the officer could put him in handcuffs.
But the McLean’s still believe the officers went too far.
Lindsay is charged with battery on a police officer, resisting and refusing a sobriety test.
Harrison is charged with assaulting an officer and resisting arrest.
Both were offered plea deals, but since they feel they did nothing wrong the two are set to go on trial in early June.