QM direct states

Good Morning/Afternoon. Please state your name for the jury, spelling your last. 

Good Morning, Ma’am my name is Quinn Marietta. 

M-A-R-I-E-T-T-A

What do you do for a living?

I’ve been with the Alturas Police Department for 10 years now. Recently, I was assigned as the School Resource Officer (SRO) at Alturas High School. 

What training did you receive before you became an official police officer?

I have a Criminal Justice degree, graduated top of my class from the police academy. I’ve served on the force ever since. 

Was that all the training you received?

Matter of fact, I also completed extra courses at the Alturas Justice Academy. The real learning came through on-the-job experience though. Overall, I was really enjoying it until March of 2017. 

What happened in March of 2017?

The department went through budget cuts and layoffs. It was all very frustrating.

Why was it frustrating?

The work environment changed, getting more stressful, and I wasn’t so sure it was the right path for me. 

Why did you begin to question your career choice?  

By 2018, gangs were becoming more aggressive, and the danger on the job escalated. I lost one of my best friends in the line of duty. It was a real wake-up call. 

How did this experience affect you?

It really rocked me. Not enough to make me an EDP but when I was offered the SRO position around that time, I took it because I needed a change of pace and environment.

How did you train to become an SRO?

I was told that they couldn’t send me to SRO training but I was offered training manuals and I read them.   

Did you ever feel underprepared with this limited training? 

No ma’am, I never felt underprepared. I was one of the best officers, and I knew I could do my job well with what I had. 

Marietta, I want to shift your attention now. Are you familiar with Cole Caples?

Yes Ma’am, he was involved in some incidents I dealt with at the high school. 

Could you tell us about some of those prior incidents?

Once, I had to stop a fight between Cole and 2 other kids. I saw Cole punch a kid, so I stepped in and handcuffed him.

Did you use pepper spray or any other deterrent?

I didn’t need to. Matter of fact, I don’t deploy deterrents unless it’s absolutely necessary,

Now, let’s focus on the incident on October 13. How was Cole involved? 

I received a report from a student that Cole had a gun in his backpack.

Who reported the gun?

Alder Frenchman.

When did you receive that report?

While I was walking the beat, after I checked students for weapons because the metal detectors stopped working.

Can you walk me through your thought process when you received the gun report?

Ma ’am, there was the threat of a school shooting. My 1400 students and staff could have been shot. I didn’t know if other kids were in on it. My priority was making sure that the gun was away from Cole. 

So how did you attempt to eliminate the threat?

I went forthwith to his classroom and asked for his backpack. He looked at me with these wild eyes and aggressively reached for his backpack.  

What do you mean when you say Cole looked at you with “wild eyes”? 

He looked around frantically, it reminded me of the gang members I dealt with before. 10 years of experience under my belt, of course I'm gonna act when I see that. 

Well, why did you choose to use pepper spray?

It was the least dangerous thing on my tool belt. Deploying the pepper spray was the best course of action.

Officer Marietta, are you aware that other children besides Cole were hit with the pepper spray too?

Affirmative. In a perfect world, I wouldn’t have had to use pepper spray but we wouldn’t be having this conversation if a student didn’t bring a gun to school in the first place.

So after pepper spraying Cole, what did you do? 

I detained Cole and took him to the principal's office, where I alerted the police station and waited for back up. We then moved the perp to the station where he was interviewed.

And you didn’t think to ever wash the pepper spray out of Cole’s eyes?

Ma’am, I considered it but I was eyeballing it and it looked like the principal was going to contaminate the evidence. At that moment I had to focus on preserving that evidence for the CSI report.

And what were the results of that CSI report?

That the gun was nonfunctional.

In light of this new information, would you have acted differently during the incident? 

No ma’am, I still believe I acted properly to ensure my school’s safety. I did what needed to be done to keep everyone safe. 

Why do you believe you acted properly?

I was responsible for over 1400 students and had a short response time. At the end of the day I did it reasonably, and this wasn’t just a misdemeanor. But no one was shot and no one was killed. In a scenario like that, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.