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When a desperate mother called Watonga police for help with her overwhelmed autistic child, she never imagined the officers would become the threat. Body camera footage reveals what happened next: Officer Monty Goodwin punching a child three times in the face while the boy screamed for help. The Blaine County District Attorney's Office has decided not to prosecute, despite clear video evidence of what appears to be assault and battery on a minor.
The Officer Who Bounced Between Departments
Monty Goodwin's path to Watonga Police reveals a troubling pattern that local officials should have caught. According to Blaine County Sheriff records, Goodwin had already washed out of the sheriff's department after being demoted for losing the confidence of his fellow deputies. He then allegedly failed at the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Academy before landing at Watonga PD. The sheriff himself publicly stated that deputies "had lost faith in him as their leader," yet somehow Goodwin found his way to another badge and gun.
This represents exactly the kind of "gypsy cop" problem plaguing Oklahoma, where problematic officers simply hop from department to department when their conduct catches up with them.
Two Victims, Same Officer, No Accountability
The autistic child wasn't Goodwin's only victim. In a separate incident captured on body camera, Goodwin detained a father during a routine morning walk with his autistic son. The father had done nothing wrong, yet Goodwin escalated the encounter into a traumatic arrest that left the six-year-old boy terrified of the police he once admired. The child had wanted to be a police officer for Halloween two years running. Now he's scared of them.
Both incidents show the same pattern: Goodwin targeting vulnerable community members and their families, using force where none was warranted.
City Leadership Implodes After Hiring Disaster
The political fallout has been swift and mysterious. Both the mayor and vice mayor of Watonga recently resigned without clear public explanation, leaving behind resignation letters the city is now fighting to keep secret. When our reporter attempted to inspect these public records at City Hall, staff acknowledged having the documents but refused to produce them, leading to a police report being filed for violation of Oklahoma's Open Records Act.
The timing suggests these resignations are connected to the Goodwin hiring debacle, but city officials are stonewalling attempts to understand what went wrong.
The District Attorney's Stunning Decision
Perhaps most shocking is the Blaine County District Attorney's decision not to prosecute Goodwin for either incident. The body camera footage shows what appears to be clear assault, battery, unlawful detention, and potential civil rights violations. Yet prosecutors claim they couldn't secure a conviction. This decision has prompted hundreds of complaints from citizens demanding accountability.
The question remains: if punching an autistic child three times in the face isn't prosecutable, what would be?
What the Video Reveals
The footage from the autistic child incident is particularly disturbing. Officers were called to help de-escalate a situation with a child upset about gaming privileges being taken away. The first five minutes went smoothly, according to the mother. Then everything went wrong. After the child was already restrained, Goodwin can be heard continuing to strike him even as the body camera view is blocked.
The mother discovered bruises on her son's face and body when she picked him up from inpatient care days later.
