Owasso Officer Found Not Guilty Of Excessive Force

Wednesday, March 8th 2017, 5:34 pm

By: News On 6

Jurors found an Owasso police officer not guilty of excessive force during an arrest.

Officer Mike Denton was found not guilty of assault and battery with a deadly weapon and reckless conduct with a firearm.

12/19/2015 Related Story: Owasso Police Officer To Face Trial On Excessive Force Charge

Dashcam video from June 2015 shows Denton hitting a suspect of a high-speed chase with a shotgun.

The altercation came at the end of a chase that stretched from Tulsa to Nowata and ended with the suspect’s arrest.

The video shows Denton sticking the shotgun in and punching it on the suspect who had just been Tased.

Another officer appears to stop Denton, but when the suspect – who had a knife – was pulled out, video shows Denton hit him with the gun multiple times.

In a statement, Owasso Chief of Police, Scott Chambless, said:

“Today, March 8th, 2017, former Owasso Police Officer Mike Denton was acquitted by a jury in Nowata County on the charges of Reckless Conduct with a Firearm and Assault and Battery with a Deadly Weapon. As Chief of Police of the Owasso Police Department, I affirm my respect for the rule of law and judicial process. The burden of proof in a criminal trial is the highest of any judicial process, as it should be. The outcome of the trial in no way diminishes my belief that the decisions made by Mr. Denton are inconsistent with Owasso Police Department policies and the department’s core values.”

4/15/2014 Related Story: Appeals Court Orders Fired Owasso Cop To Be Reinstated

Denton was also accused of using excessive force in 2011 and fired from the Owasso Police Department, but the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals ordered the City to reinstate him.