St. Paul Officer Accused Of Beating His Wife

Heather Brown
ST. PAUL (WCCO) ―

A St. Paul police officer is on desk duty after accusations he beat his wife. Officer Isaac Rinehart was arrested Monday night after turning himself in at the Maplewood Police Department.

Around 10 p.m., his wife walked into the Maplewood Police Department. Maplewood Chief Dave Thomalla saw her and noticed something was wrong.

"She had facial injuries. She had some bleeding from the nose and some swelling in her face," he said. "Obviously, she'd been assaulted."

She told him she'd been hurt by her husband at the home where he was staying. She said they'd been in a fight and she'd walked a mile to the police station. Maplewood officers took her to the hospital.

While she was being checked out, Thomalla called St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington to tell him what happened. Harrington called Rinehart's commander, who then called Rinehart. Within the hour, Rinehart had turned himself in.

Thomalla said while all domestic cases are different, his officers did not handle this one differently because Rinehart is a police officer. He said officers have to be careful when dealing with other officers because they are often armed.

"Unfortunately, domestic assaults and domestic violence happen frequently in our society. The suspects involved are in every occupation you can imagine. In this particular case it was a police officer," Thomalla said. "We're going to deal with this case the same way we would with every other one."

Thomalla said Rinehart didn't give police a statement and requested his lawyer. In his 15 years with St. Paul Police, Rinehart's personnel file shows he's been commended 16 times. He's also been reprimanded four times. One was a 4-day suspension in 1996 for conduct unbecoming of a police officer. Privacy rules prevent police from releasing any more details on that suspension.

Rinehart is also under investigation after his police canine bit a child earlier this year.

"This is a difficult situation. Certainly if these allegations prove true, this is very serious," said St. Paul Police Sgt. Paul Schnell.

Right now, Rinehart has been taken out of his canine unit and placed on administrative duty. Once the criminal case is closed, St. Paul Police will begin their own investigation.

"As a department, we want to take this stuff seriously. At the same time, if it's one of our officers or any member of the public, there is a due process route that is provided to all people that are accused," Schnell said.

When reached at his home Tuesday afternoon, Rinehart had no comment on the case.

"In this particular case it was a police officer," Thomalla said. "We're going to deal with this case the same way we would with every other one."

Riiiiight. Every time there's a domestic assault in Maplewood, the police call the perp's boss, who in turn calls the perp and asks him to turn himself in?

Riiiiight. Every time there's a domestic assault in Maplewood, the police call the perp's boss, who in turn calls the perp and asks him to turn himself in?

Bullshit.

You guys really believe that had this not involved an officer, he would have been allowed to turn himself in? You can't really believe that?