Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Police Use Of Force topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
POST suspends Brentwood officer Paul Matichuk nine months after panel finds force excessive; decertification vote fails
Summary
The commission declined to decertify Brentwood officer Paul Matichuk on Nov. 17 but imposed a nine‑month suspension, required basic POST recertification training and other conditions after the advisory board unanimously recommended revocation following a video‑recorded incident in which Matichuk kicked a handcuffed, seated homeless woman.
The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training on Nov. 17 declined to decertify Paul Matichuk but voted unanimously to suspend his POST certifications for nine months and require basic POST recertification training following a board recommendation to revoke.
POST investigator Kevin Sherburne described video evidence showing Matichuk, a former Brentwood officer, handcuff a woman seated cross‑legged in a garden-shed area and then, as she rose, take three quick steps and kick her in the left midsection or upper thigh. Sherburne said the kick propelled the woman backward into the shed door; officers on scene told investigators they were surprised because they did not perceive an immediate threat or a risk of escape and did not expect that level of force.
Sherburne told the commission the woman was not resisting at the moment she was kicked, had her hands cuffed behind her back, and that the totality of circumstances made the force disproportionate. The advisory board heard testimony, reviewed two body-worn-camera perspectives and voted unanimously to recommend revocation.
Matichuk’s counsel, Maureen Masters of RLS Lawyers, and Matichuk himself said he had prior, repeated contacts with the woman, described a history of spitting and violent encounters and said his decision was shaped by that history and by a desire to avoid a worse outcome. Matichuk said he had chosen the graveyard shift to do outreach to unhoused people and that he acted based on prior experience with the subject; he also said a recent training exercise led him to misinterpret a moment as jest with colleagues, which led him to smile after the incident.
At the commission, an initial motion to decertify failed on roll call. Commissioners then passed a substitute motion to suspend Matichuk’s certification for nine months, require basic POST recertification training and impose related administrative conditions; that motion passed unanimously.
POST emphasized that the absence of serious physical injury to the woman did not remove the question of whether the force used was unreasonable and that the assessment must be based on the totality of the circumstances as observed by a reasonable officer. The commission’s suspension and training order replaces a revocation recommendation with disciplinary terms to be carried out by POST.
