A Ramsey County sheriff’s correctional officer will resign this week, a year after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in connection with his treatment of an inmate.

After Travis VanDeWiele pushed on Terrell Johnson’s head and Johnson complained of excessive force, VanDeWiele responded, “You ain’t seen excessive force yet” and punched the restrained man four times in his abdomen or chest area, according to the criminal complaint against VanDeWiele.

Johnson, then 24, was having a hard time talking, but he managed to say, “Please don’t kill me,” the complaint continued.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, who was not working at the sheriff’s office at the time of the incident, said Monday the events captured on video from three years ago “are extremely disturbing to me and other members of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department.”

In addition to VanDeWiele’s departure, the sergeant on duty at the time of the Johnson case left the sheriff’s office in March 2017, a month after VanDeWiele was charged.

Fletcher said the video, which was taken by an acting correctional sergeant, “demonstrated failed supervision and poor training.”

“The supervisor present and all employees witnessing these actions had a duty to intervene to stop the assaultive tactics and the use of excessive force,” Fletcher wrote in a statement. “The conduct captured on the video will not be tolerated under my watch. Misconduct will be investigated expeditiously and if personnel are found at fault, discipline will be swift and thorough.”

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Neither VanDeWiele nor his attorney could be reached for comment Monday.

VanDeWiele, 46, was hired at the sheriff’s office in 2014. He was on administrative leave for two years and was paid $121,555 during that time.

He is listed as the co-head coach of the East Ridge High School wrestling program in Woodbury.

ON LEAVE, THEN CHARGED

The case from the early hours of April 13, 2016, came to light after a sheriff’s office employee raised concerns. VanDeWiele was placed on paid administrative leave three days later and returned from leave later that month.

The Ramsey County sheriff’s office asked the Washington County sheriff’s office to conduct an independent investigation into VanDeWiele’s actions, which they began on April 29, 2016.

Washington County prosecutors reviewed the case and did not file felony charges, at which point the case was sent to Minneapolis prosecutors for review. He was charged with misdemeanors in February 2017.

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NTSB releases preliminary report on Cottage Grove plane crash The complaint against VanDeWiele says Johnson wound up at the jail after St. Paul police arrested him for theft.

Dispatch notified the jail that officers “were bringing in an unruly inmate,” according to the complaint.

Deputies were told it took officers 10 minutes to get Johnson into a squad car, police had sprayed him with a chemical irritant and he “would likely spit at the deputies,” the complaint continued.

Johnson, who was handcuffed, spit at the ground in the direction of VanDeWiele’s leg, the complaint said. VanDeWiele told him to step out of the squad or he would drag him out. Johnson started to get out, but fell to the ground.

WAS USING ‘PAIN COMPLIANCE’

A “spit hood” was put on Johnson, which covered his mouth. Four sheriff’s employees, including VanDeWiele, surrounded Johnson to try to secure him to a transport chair.

“Mr. Johnson was resisting, pushing his hips up” and jail workers told Johnson “a number of times to sit back and/or down,” the complaint said.

One worker said if Johnson didn’t sit back, one of them “should use pain compliance on him,” according to the complaint. VanDeWiele did, pushing on Johnson’s jaw.

VanDeWiele also used his knee to strike him twice in the abdomen and Johnson “called the deputies an obscene name,” the complaint continued.

VanDeWiele’s attorney wrote in a court filing that the correctional officer tried to deliver the knee strikes to Johnson’s thigh to gain compliance, but “due to Johnson’s thrashing around,” they landed closer to Johnson’s abdomen.

PLEA DEAL FOR DISORDERLY CONDUCT

VanDeWiele’s attorney, Kevin Beck, sought to have the case dismissed and wrote in a filing that prosecutors did not produce any evidence that VanDeWiele “used unreasonable force to gain the compliance of an uncooperative inmate.”

A judge dismissed Beck’s motion, writing it would be up to a jury to decide whether “the alleged assault was justified.”

VanDeWiele pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in January 2018, and the fifth-degree assault charge was dropped. The result was a conviction for the same level of misdemeanor, said Casper Hill, a spokesman for the Minneapolis city attorney’s office.

VanDeWiele was sentenced to 90 days in the workhouse, which was set aside for one year. He was sentenced to probation to the court for a year and he completed it last month, Hill said.

RESIGNING THIS WEEK

After the court case wrapped up last year, the sheriff’s office conducted an internal affairs investigation. The sheriff’s office was apparently moving to terminate VanDeWiele because, in October, he began an appeal process under the state’s Veterans’ Preference Act — it allows honorably discharged veterans more due-process steps.

Instead, VanDeWiele reached an agreement with the county to resign, which was signed on Thursday. The agreement says his resignation is effective this Thursday and he will be compensated for unused sick or vacation time, which amounts to $9,630. Related Articles Two men face felony charges in Bloomington home invasion

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If the matter had gone to arbitration, VanDeWiele would have continued to be paid as he remained on leave and he could have been reinstated.

Matt Bostrom, who was sheriff in 2016, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Fletcher said he has reviewed the sheriff’s office training and policies since he took office in January and also appointed a new detention superintendent to oversee the jail.