FBI investigates Paradise police force
OROVILLE
(AP) — The FBI is investigating reports that Paradise police officers
used excessive force against suspects.
Agents have asked for police reports related to as many as
10 complaints over the last year. The department’s patrol division commander,
Lt. Al Billington, says an internal affairs probe also is under way.
Billington testified about the investigations during the
trial of one of the men arrested by a Paradise officer.
Max
Schumacher says Officer Robert Pickering pulled him from a squad car on the way
to jail and threw him face-first to the ground. Pickering says the 30-year-old
Schumacher threatened his family.
He says Schumacher was injured while banging his head in the
squad car and trying to escape.
Schumacher is on trial for the threats and for resisting
arrest.