Abortion Protest Aftermath : Deputy Gets Warning After Criticizing Police

An off-duty sheriff’s deputy who criticized San Diego police in news accounts for using excessive force during the weekend arrests of abortion protesters has been advised by his superiors to curtail his comments to the media.

Deputy Walter (Woody) Van Oosbree, 33, said he was “counseled” by his supervising captain Thursday to “use caution” when making statements to the media.

Although a San Diego County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said the deputy did not face a reprimand, anti-abortion activists suggested that the session with his supervisor was a transparent attempt to cow Van Oosbree for publicly espousing his beliefs.

Van Oosbree, a nine-year Sheriff’s Department veteran from Lakeside, told several reporters at the Saturday protest that police overreacted while arresting more than 100 anti-abortion activists after they temporarily closed the office of a Hillcrest doctor who performs the procedure.

Complaints of Tight Cuffs

The deputy, an anti-abortion advocate attending the demonstration during his off-duty hours, said in press accounts that San Diego officers were cinching down handcuffs too tightly on several of those arrested.

Van Oosbree suggested that the plastic-strap handcuffs, known as “flex-cuffs,” were so tight that the hands of some protesters were turning purple from a lack of blood.

“I’ve been doing this for 10 years, and you’ve got people here putting those cuffs on too tight,” Van Oosbree said in one newspaper report. “That’s punishment. That’s torture.”

Van Oosbree, who was identified as a sheriff’s deputy in the article, was not alone in criticizing the performance of police at the demonstration.

Leaders of Project Rescue, a San Diego spinoff of the nationwide anti-abortion organization Operation Rescue, also criticized police for using allegedly excessive force in the arrests. Authorities defended the tactics, however, saying officers used “pain-compliance” measures to move the blockade of protesters, many of whom went limp when taken into custody.

Note to Report to Supervisor

After Van Oosbree’s comments were featured in press accounts, the deputy got a note Wednesday evening to report after work to his supervisor at the Las Colinas jail when he arrived for his stint on the graveyard shift.

When he got off duty Thursday morning, the deputy and his supervising captain had “an informal conversation” for 20 to 30 minutes, Van Oosbree said. He characterized the talk as “just conversation” and said his captain was “very nice, very understanding” about the situation.

The captain advised Van Oosbree that he was “not in violation of any regulations of the Sheriff’s Department,” but suggested that he “use caution in any further comments to the media,” the deputy said.

Van Oosbree said he felt that his captain, whom he declined to identify, was simply “relaying information from the office of the sheriff.” He would not elaborate or discuss the situation further.

A department spokesman said Thursday that no investigation of Van Oosbree’s statements to the press or activities at the demonstration had been conducted and no disciplinary measures are pending against him.

‘His Right as a Citizen’

“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with him being at that rally,” said Deputy Al Bates, a department spokesman. “That’s his right as a citizen to be there.”

Bates said the sheriff’s public information office had received a barrage of telephone calls Thursday from people saying they are friends of Van Oosbree and asking whether he had been arrested or suspended.

Despite assurances from sheriff’s officials that Van Oosbree had not been disciplined, anti-abortion activists rushed to the deputy’s defense Thursday.

“The whole idea is just a violation of his civil rights,” said Angela Phelps, a Project Rescue activist and friend of Van Oosbree. “I believe it was a reprimand. Basically, what they were saying was, ‘Don’t do it again if you value your job.’ That’s what they were saying.”

Phelps, who did discuss the incident with Van Oosbree, asserted that Sheriff’s Department officials would like to make an example of the deputy if they could.

“I don’t care how nice they were about it,” she said. “They were threatening his job.”