Hunt County Sheriff Randy Meeks Wednesday addressed the circumstances around a video that appears to show a deputy punching a pregnant woman.
Hunt County Sheriff Randy Meeks Wednesday addressed the circumstances around a video that appears to show a deputy punching a pregnant woman.
During a news conference, Meeks said deputies with the Hunt County Sheriff's Department were called in to assist taking custody of a child alleged to have suffered abuse or neglect.
Two deputies, a Quinlan police officer and two CPS workers arrived at the home of Deanna Robinson-Katsuki's parents and said they had a warrant to take custody of her 18-month-old son.
Robinson-Katsuki, who was 38-weeks pregnant at the time, asked to see the warrant and Meeks said deputies showed it to her and allowed her to read it.
Meeks said the situation quickly became chaotic as the woman began yelling that they weren't taking her child. She tried to close the door, but a deputy was able to push the door open and enter the residence.
Meeks said Robinson-Katsuki then became combative, shouted profanities and struck one of the deputies in the face.
At this point, Meeks said, the video in question begins and shows officers attempting to put Robinson-Katsuki under arrest for assaulting an officer, resisting arrest and interfering with child custody.
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In the video, it's alleged by Robinson-Katsuki that the deputies pushed her into a corner as one of them hit her with his fist. Meeks said at the time when the woman was struck she was not handcuffed and that she was resisting arrest.
Meeks said there is more evidence present than what the video shows and that more time was needed for investigators with the Texas Rangers to determine what happened throughout the incident.
He added that saying a deputy punched a pregnant woman was only one possible narrative in the story and that a second possible narrative could be that a pregnant woman attempted to take a deputy's gun.
"I believe that we can say that that is a possibility," Meeks said. "Which narrative is correct? I don't know. That is for the Texas Rangers to determine."
When pressed by reporters, Meeks refused to definitively say whether Robinson-Katsuki tried to grab the officer's weapon, that it was only a possibility, and said his department was awaiting filing charges on the allegation until after the Texas Rangers completed their investigation.
"From what I understand, she had got some of his ammo belt off and was reaching for his gun when he delivered the blows to keep her from reaching his service revolver," Meeks said, of his discussion with his deputy about the incident.
"I don't know how many blows that the deputy made. I believe by looking at it that he was trying to keep her hands away from his gun. If someone gets your own gun, you can be killed by a pregnant woman as well as you could a 16-year-old child."
If the investigation shows the deputy acted outside of the law or violated policy, Meeks said the deputy will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Meeks added that his office has not received any complaint from Robinson-Katsuki, or her attorneys, regarding the recorded incident.
The investigation by the Texas Rangers is ongoing.
Robinson-Kutsuki denies she reached for the deputy’s gun.
“That notion is ludicrous,” Robinson-Kutsuki said. “There is nothing that I did, and there is nothing in my mind that exists that warrants that kind of treatment on an extremely pregnant woman.”
Her attorney went on to tell NBC 5 they do not view an investigation by the Texas Rangers as independent, and they are calling for the officer to be removed from duty while the investigation continues.
“There is absolutely no excuse and no justification for what happened to me,” Robinson-Kutsuki said.
NBC 5's Jocelyn Lockwood contributed to this report.
