Woman sues Trolley Square hero officer

An Ogden police officer hailed as a hero for stopping the killing spree at the Trolley Square mall is being sued by a woman accusing him of abusing her.

Officer Ken Hammond is on administrative leave because of a separate investigation accusing him of misconduct. On Tuesday, a woman filed a federal lawsuit against him accusing Hammond of abusing her and her husband during a May 18 arrest. Natasha Child's lawsuit also names Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner and the city itself as defendants.

Speaking about the lawsuit on Wednesday, Assistant Police Chief Randy Watt declined to discuss specific allegations but said Hammond should be considered innocent until proven guilty.

The complaints leveled against Hammond should not take away from his heroism at Trolley Square, but if anything, Watt said, it added to the scrutiny than other officers would typically face.

"These complaints are fairly commonplace," Watt said Wednesday. "It's just part of doing police work."

The lawsuit filed Tuesday says Hammond was assisting the Utah Highway Patrol in arresting Corey Child, who had already escaped from custody after being pulled over for investigation of DUI. He called his wife, Natasha, and told her to meet him.

"She arrived moments after he was recaptured and in custody," attorney Robert Sykes wrote in the lawsuit.

Child says she watched Hammond kick the legs out from underneath her handcuffed husband, knocking him to the ground.

"Hammond then elbowed Corey in the head and kneed him in the back," Sykes wrote. "Natasha cried out, 'I'm a witness to that!' Hammond appeared surprised by her presence, saying, 'Where the hell did you come from? Who are you?"'

Child says she was then handcuffed, and Hammond put her in his patrol car, threatening to punch her. She admits in her lawsuit she became combative and began yelling.

"As the handcuffed Natasha struggled, her pants began to fall down. She pleaded for Hammond to let her pull them up, but he refused and raised her handcuffed hands nearly up to the back of her neck, preventing her from attending to her needs for modesty," Sykes wrote. "She pleaded with him to 'please stop,' but Hammond continued to apply force to the handcuffs behind Natasha's back, causing even more pain."

The lawsuit accuses Hammond of getting angrier and throwing her down to the ground. It accuses the officer of pulling down her pants to her ankles saying, "now you don't have to worry about them."