By ALISHA WYMAN

The Union Democrat

Sonora police say officers acted within department policy Monday when they used batons and pepper spray to make an arrest, while the man arrested says officers overreacted.

Department officials are investigating the incident, which is customary when officers use force, said Lt. Mark Stinson, department spokesman.

Allan Owens, 58, was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor obstructing or delaying a peace officer when he got into a verbal disagreement with a department sergeant on Old Wards Ferry Road at Sanguinetti Road.

He had put his hands behind his back, in a show of surrender, but officers ordered him to get to the ground, he said. The pepper spray and batons were used after he refused, he said.

"It was wrong," said Owens, who suffered bruising to the backs of his legs. "There was nothing that justified that kind of force."

Owens and his family have met with city officials and sought legal counsel, though they haven't yet filed any formal complaint.

They are looking for a video and pictures that witnesses may have taken of the event.

Monday evening's incident began when officers made a traffic stop on Old Wards Ferry Road, based on several reports of a possible drunken driver and several juveniles in a car, Stinson said.

The male 19-year-old driver was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol and being under the influence of drugs. The officers contacted the remaining youths' parents to come pick them up.

A woman who responded in a Jeep Cherokee was driving with a license suspended for drunk driving, Stinson said. She also had failed to install a court-ordered device used to test her blood alcohol level before she drives.

The woman was cited and a tow truck was called, Stinson said. In cases where someone is driving with a suspended license, it is the department's policy to tow all vehicles and hold them for 30 days, he said.

Meanwhile Owens, his wife, Cathy, and his daughter were on their way to dinner at Applebee's restaurant. They spotted the Jeep pulled over on the side of the road with two to three police cars stopped nearby.

Several teens were sitting on the sidewalk, one of whom was a friend of Owens' daughter, he said.

From the restaurant, Cathy Owens spotted the tow truck. After some discussion, Allan Owens decided to try to prevent the car from being towed.

Owens, who worked in the prison system for 20 years, approached an officer and asked if he could take the car for the woman, he said. The officer said it was the department's policy that it be towed.

Owens was under the impression that an owner could give permission for someone else to take their car if it was being towed, he said in an interview.

The officer directed him to Sgt. Kevin Johnston nearby, who reiterated that it was against the policy. But Johnston was "curt" and "kind of snotty" in his response, Owens said.

As Owens was leaving, "I basically said, ‘I thought you have to be old enough to shave to wear a badge.' That apparently got to him."

As Owens walked back across the street, he heard Johnston say something, he said. He turned back around and raised his hands with his palms facing up in question, asking Johnston what he was going to do.

Johnston told him to get on the ground. Owens refused, but turned around and put his hands behind his back.

"I never once tried to resist them at all," he said.

Johnston came from the side and pepper sprayed him, then he was being struck with a baton, he said. Other officers came to assist and got Owens to the ground, where they put him in handcuffs.

Stinson said Owens was ordered to leave several times, but kept returning.

"He made verbal threats and other gestures that the officers felt were threatening," he said, saying that he couldn't go into more detail about the threats.

Owens also didn't obey repeated orders to lay on the ground, so they used pepper spray and batons.

"This was not like we were contacting him," Stinson said. "He was coming into our crime scene and contacting us."

Department policy says officers can use force where it "reasonably appears necessary" to bring the incident under control. It can be used to "effect an arrest, to prevent escape or to overcome resistance."

"Any interpretation of reasonableness must allow for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second decisions in circumstances that are tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving...," it says.

Officers ask people to lay on their stomach in about 50 percent of arrests, which gives them better control over a suspect, Stinson said.

Stinson pointed out that Owens apologized to officers at the hospital.

Owens said he talked to Johnston at the hospital for awhile and doesn't have hard feelings toward him, but he disagreed with his tactics.

"It should have never gone that way," he said.

Tuolumne County Sheriff's Deputy George Woodward assisted police Monday and was talking to one of the juveniles at the time, said Sgt. Jim Oliver, a Sheriff's Office spokesman.

He turned to see Johnston striking the man with his baton, according to an account in the sheriff's log. Woodward responded to help the officers by attempting a tactic to bring the man to the ground, which didn't work, Oliver said.

Sonora Police Officer Jerry McCaig then took Owens to Sonora Regional Medical Center, he said.

There are a lot of factors that go into an officer's decision to use force, including size of the subject, the seriousness of the suspected offense, risk of escape, and the potential injury to deputies, public or the suspect, Sheriff Jim Mele said.

"It's very subjective," he said. "That's probably one of the hardest things in law enforcement is to be in a situation and to decide what type of force do you use."

A deputy has self-preservation in mind when they tell subjects to get on the ground, Mele said.

"I have seen it myself where you walk up behind somebody and they're very compliant, and as soon as you touch them, the fight is on," he said.

In this case, Cathy Owens — sister of Deputy Dave Grant, who was killed while on duty in 2004 — feels like officers crossed the line.

"My whole family has been on this side of the law, and to have this guy do this just gives you a sour feeling," she said.

Contact Alisha Wyman at awyman@uniondemo-crat.com or 588-4527.