SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — New court documents, following charging recommendations from the Yakima County Prosecutor's Office, show why a Spokane County Sheriff's Office sergeant now faces assault and false swearing counts.
Sgt. Clay Hilton's charges stem from an August 2023 arrest where he's accused of beating Kevin Hinton so badly he was hospitalized for days.
The Spokane County prosecutor Larry Haskell, who passed on the investigation into the sergeant, confirmed this marks the first time a Spokane County Sheriff's Office deputy has been charged with a crime committed while on duty.
Sixty-two-year-old Hinton had pulled over at Terrace View Park in Spokane Valley on August 14, 2023 when he says he was confronted by Sergeant Hilton.
When Hinton wouldn't hand over his ID, the situation escalated and his attorney said Hilton beat him to the point where he suffered eight broken ribs, a punctured lung and a concussion.
The case was independently investigated by the Spokane Police Department as well as a contracted use-of-force expert.
Both concluded Hilton's actions were "excessive" and "unnecessary" according to charging documents.
The investigating expert, Jeff Noble, wrote the crime Hinton was accused of, being in the park after hours, is only an infraction in the City of Spokane Valley. That doesn't warrant a custodial arrest, Noble wrote.
Noble writes it looks like Hilton mistakenly believed being in the park after hours was a misdemeanor, but says even if it were the use of force would still be unreasonable.
"The violation was very minor, did not involve weapons or violence, and there was no need for haste," he wrote.
Instead of using de-escalation techniques that are SCSO policy, Noble writes Hilton made comments that tended to escalate the situation, including telling Hinton he was "going to get hurt."
An SPD investigator said Hilton continuing to punch Hinton was "increasingly unnecessary" as Hinton had been forcibly taken out of his car and was offering next to no resistance.
The SPD investigator said Hilton recognized he couldn’t cite Hinton with a misdemeanor sometime after the arrest but “completed a sworn charging document and sworn police report with knowledge” it was only a civil infraction. The investigator said Hilton used another municipality's park statute in place of his own jurisdiction and said emails capture him "intentionally disregarding Spokane Valley code."
Yakima prosecutors took over the investigation for Spokane to ensure transparency. Charges were filed in Spokane County.
"With this new information, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office is finalizing the internal investigation into this incident," said the Spokane County Sheriff's Office in a statement on Monday.
The sheriff's office declined to comment further. Calls to attorneys for Hinton and an attorney for Sgt. Hilton were not returned Tuesday.