OGDEN, Utah, April 24, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A verified GoFundMe account has been established to help hire an attorney for a man who was allegedly beaten by Ogden City Police on Sunday.
A video released by a bystander shows four officers kneeling or squatting around a person prone on Washington Boulevard, north of downtown Ogden, with the iconic Ogden City arch visible in the background.
The video appears to show two of the officers striking the person multiple times.
The GoFundMe account, titled “OCPD used unnecessary force!,” says it was started by the mother of the man being punched.
“My name is Marsha Quintana and Shawn is my son,” the page says. “On April 23, 2023 my son was held down by two Ogden City Police officers and while on the ground completely detained and unable to defend himself my son was brutally beaten by two other officers.
“We need your help paying for an attorney to fight the criminal behavior of those officers. Shawn has suffered a broken nose, fractured jaw, broken orbital sockets and complete loss of vision in one of his eyes. The possibility of him getting his vision back is very very slim.
“The viral video of the Ogden police officers beating my son clearly shows him laying on the ground defenseless, not resisting at all, in fact it is believed that he may have been unconscious while two officers beat him in the face and head. Please help us fight this. Even the smallest donations help. Thank you for your love and support.”
View the GoFundMe page here. A verification email came to Gephardt Daily from a GoFundMe spokesman who serves the western region, according to company information.
Ogden police statement
The Ogden City Police on Sunday released a statement about the incident. It was posted at 12:54 a.m. on Facebook:
“The Ogden Police Department is aware of a use of force incident involving our officers, which a bystander filmed. The department had begun an After-Action Use of Force investigation prior to the release of the bystander video. We will report those findings and all available Body Worn Camera footage as soon as possible.”
Online court records from Ogden do not show anyone named Shawn arrested in the past few days. Arrest records could be delayed because the subject is still hospitalized, or they have not yet been filed by the police department, or the subject has not been charged.
