Opinion ID: 2066191
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: Soap Incident

Text: That this incident occurred is not in dispute. Again, the question is whether it was unprofessional. The policy manual governing Johanson's conduct explicitly prohibits physical means to inflict punishment or compel obedience absent unusual circumstances, when immediate action is essential to repel [an] attack, or protect other persons. Regardless of whether placing soap on Craig's tongue was corporal punishment, a matter we need not decide, it was clearly a physical means of discipline. There is no evidence that using such means was essential, or even remotely necessary, to get Craig to stop using foul language, let alone to repel an attack or protect other persons. Johanson asked Craig whether he wanted his mouth washed out with soap, and Craig willingly complied, going so far as to stick his tongue out. The only inference one can draw from Craig's complicity, at least in regard to the issue at hand, is that physical means were not necessary to compel Craig's obedience in any way. Moreover, Johanson himself admitted that his conduct was in error and that Craig's behavior did not excuse his own. We conclude that the evidence was more than sufficient to support the District's findings that Johanson's conduct regarding this incident was unprofessional.