CLEARFIELD, Utah (ABC 4 News) - A 19-year-old man is suing the Clearfield Police Department for taking him on a spin inside a clothes dryer.
The teen was hiding in a dryer at a friend's home when police came knocking on the door during a New Year's party. The teen said he hid in the dryer because he's scared of police.
"I went to hide," says Chandler Rose. "The closest thing was a dryer."
He said someone helped him into the dryer once police arrived. The Clearfield police officer had a camera attached to his body and recorded his visit at the home. ABC 4 News obtained the video from Rose's attorney.
Chandler said a friend helped him hide in the dryer and then cover him up with a comforter. Meanwhile police were asking questions inside the house. But it appeared they were focused on the dryer.
"They claim they watched him go into the dryer as they watched from outside the home," said Rose's attorney Loren Lambert. "But they said they didn't see whether he came out or not."
On the police officer's video recording the following exchange happened between the officer and those at the party:
"Hey do you guys care if I do some laundry?"
"No go ahead."
"It's okay if I start that up?"
"So there's no reason Ishouldn't start the dryer?"
"You live here, do you mind starting it."
"Okay, start it up."
The officer asked someone in the home to hit the start button on the dryer. Rose said he couldn't hear anyone from inside the dryer.
"Next thing I know I'm rolling in the dryer," Rose says. "My lower back felt like it was being pounded by a fist."
He said he was spinning for about ten times before it came to a stop. On the video recording the police officer filmed Rose coming out of the dryer and asking him:
"Did you have fun? Do you have I.D. on you?"
"Yeah."
"That was pretty stupid wasn't it?"
"Yup."
"It was a dumb place to hide."
Rose's attorney said police knew someone was in the dryer all this time.
"He's just playing with them," Lambert says. "He's enjoying the moment of showing them what he can do in that situation."
On the video recording it does appear Rose was in a daze.
"I was unconscious and couldn't talk very good," he says.
He says he is still hurting from the spin cycle in the dryer. He claims to be going through rehabilation for his back which continues to give him pain.
Rose was the only person in the room cited for underage drinking. Last week he was fined $1300. And this week his attorney fired back, filing a civil rights lawsuit in federal court.
"They acted like a bunch of immature high schoolers," says Rose. "They thought it was cute and funny and that's now the way police should act."
