WATONGA – A 2019 video that allegedly depicts now-former Watonga Police Chief Shawn Kays was posted on social media, and later aired by an Oklahoma City news station, amidst ongoing investigations into the chief.
The 50-second video shows a male and female police officer entering a home before a woman flies out the door toward the camera and falls onto her porch. The officers then handcuff the woman, twisting her arms behind her back as she cries out in pain.
The male officer can be heard swearing at the woman.
Last week OKC station News 9 identified the woman in the video as Julia Cosby. Cosby said the male officer is Kays, and several locals told the Watonga Republican the female officer is Michelle Singh.
Singh is no longer with the department. She did not return a phone call requesting comment, and Kays’ attorney declined to comment to News 9.
Cosby told News 9 she became involved in an abusive relationship after moving to Watonga from Hawaii. She said she was at a Watonga home that day to retrieve her belongings when Kays entered the home while not in uniform and “started putting hands on me.”
Cosby said her arm is “permanently” damaged from the arrest. She can be heard in the video repeatedly screaming for the officers to stop and at one point says her arm feels like it is “breaking.”
When News 9 first reported on the video, it learned that the video had been referred to the district attorney’s office and that no charges had yet resulted. But Erik Roscom of the Blaine County District Attorney’s Office told the Republican last week that the investigation into the video is still open and active.
Kays was fired earlier this month after an emergency protective order was filed against him by a different woman. A second court hearing on that order is scheduled for mid-August.