Snoqualmie officials have no plans to discipline or dismiss Police Officer Nick Hogan.

They say they have no reason to do so, based on his performance with the city of Snoqualmie since his hiring, Feb. 10, 2014. As for some recently surfaced claims of Hogan using excessive force, those occurred during his tenure with another city’s police department.

“I can’t reprimand him or terminate him for something that happened in Tukwila,” Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson said Monday. “And the bottom line is we’ve been very satisfied with his performance, and have gotten very positive feedback from his dealings with organizations in the community.”

Hogan has been the subject of a recent series of Seattle Times stories on lawsuits, settled in 2013 and 2014 by the city of Tukwila. In both suits, plaintiffs claimed Hogan used excessive force while arresting them, causing injuries. Hogan was later terminated from the Tukwila department, the stories report, and turned down for employment at other agencies before finding a position with Snoqualmie.

Police Chief Steve McCulley noted that Hogan has received “glowing military records and accolades,” and Mayor Larson noted that Hogan was thoroughly investigated during the application process, as are all candidates.

Further, Larson said that he personally reviews all police officer applications,

and during his review, he raised concerns about past incidents in Hogan’s record with McCulley. One was a 2013 lawsuit, in which Alvin Walker claimed that Hogan broke his arm while arresting him.

In response to his concerns, Larson said McCulley had private conversations with some of Hogan’s former co-workers at Tukwila, and learned that Hogan’s termination there may have been political, more symbolic in nature than a reflection on his performance.

No Snoqualmie officials had full details of the more controversial lawsuit described in the Seattle Times story, in which a man named Robert Turner claimed Hogan stomped on his leg, breaking his ankle,  during an arrest. Larson noted that the plaintiff, in his initial complaint, filed April 2, 2013, did not specify which of three Tukwila officers involved in the incident had broken his ankle, and the city of Tukwila ruled against Turner April 18, 2013, stating that the officers had used “a reasonable amount of force” in subduing and arresting Turner and another man. In a later claim, filed with the King County Superior Court, April 16, 2014, Turner does specify that Hogan broke his ankle. By that time, Hogan had been working in  Snoqualmie for two months, still in a one-year probationary period.

Although the city ended contracts with several other police officers by the end of their probation, Hogan completed the term without any incidents or complaints against him.

Larson and city attorney Bob Sterbank both commented that Turner’s deposition, or sworn statement in that lawsuit, seemed muddled initially, but he later began adding details. Also, Turner admitted to taking a cocktail of illegal drug before the incidents, which fact was omitted from the Times stories.

“The inconsistencies of the Turner case raise some questions to me,” Larson said. “How do you get a spiral fracture when someone is lying on the ground getting stomped on? … Why wouldn’t (the reporter) point out that this guy was hopped up on drugs and had a criminal history, a violent criminal history?”

A spiral fracture occurs with a twisting motion, as in a fall. This break was seen in Turner’s X-rays, and referred to by Hogan in a court document, but those X-rays are not available, having been sealed by the court since the lawsuit was settled.

Larson also denied the reporter’s claims that the city refused to comment. Both Larson and McCulley said they’d received phone messages from the reporter before the first story was published, but had been given less than an hour to respond.

Overall, the city has had few complaints against police officers, and “none of them rise to the level of the allegations against Hogan,” Larson said, adding that it’s remarkable. Since Snoqualmie police began covering North Bend in March, 2014, the department cleared out nearly 40 transient encampments and made important drug arrests in both cities. “They were pretty aggressive about getting a lot of that stuff cleaned up,” Larson said, and “To have all that happen without any significant complaints, I think speaks highly of the team.”

Larson didn’t speculate on what decisions he’d have made knowing full details of the Turner case, but he also didn’t plan to change the hiring process — the city currently has one opening. He has full confidence in the screening company, Public Safety Testing, and in his police chief.

“I definitely want to send the message that we support the guys and we’re behind them,” said Larson, “but I also don’t want to do it in a way that seems like it’s just blind. Yes, I’m behind you, but I’m also going to hold you accountable.”