Two police officers were suspended Thursday after they were captured on video repeatedly punching a suspect who appeared to surrender following a wild, hours-long chase through MA and New Hampshire.
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One New Hampshire officer was “immediately relieved from duty”, a statement from the department read, calling Wednesday’s arrest “disturbing” but also cautioning observers to withhold judgment until their investigation into the arrest was complete. A statement from Massachusetts Col. Richard McKeon says a Massachusetts state trooper has been relieved of duty pending an internal hearing scheduled for Friday. Neither of the troopers was identified.
Richard Simone of Worcester, Mass., sits in court for his arraignment at Hillsborough County Superior Court in Nashua, NH, Thursday, May 12, 2016, following a high-speed police pursuit from MA to New Hampshire on Wednesday.
Massachusetts State Police made a similar announcement later, saying, the “actions taken by a trooper from our department and other officers involved in yesterday’s apprehension of suspect Richard Simone in Nashua, N.H”.
Police in Holden said that they first tried to stop the auto because it was wanted in connection with a lookout advisory issue by another department on Monday. All New Hampshire public safety officials are held to the highest standards, and the governor expects this will be fully investigated.
Sculimbrene also told the court that while he believed that Simone knew what he was doing in agreeing to go back to MA, he had other concerns about Simone’s well-being.
Simone was represented in the New Hampshire court by public defenders Anthony Sculimbrene and Pamela Jones.
Simone is facing charges relating to the pursuit as well as charges stemming from his other warrants, police said.
Rush-Kittle said officers had tried to stop Simone’s pickup truck just after 2:30 a.m. Sunday, but the driver refused to stop.
Quinn says they will also cooperate with the state Attorney General’s criminal investigation into what appears to be police repeatedly punching a man already on his hands and knees.
Holden police chased him, and a Massachusetts State Police cruiser followed.
Hassan said she had reached out to authorities about the video. Footage from a news helicopter shows officers then setting upon him, pummeling him with punches.
Fewer than 9 percent of chases are initiated due to a driver’s possible connection to a violent felony, according to the IACP, while around 15 percent involve drivers believed to be intoxicated – situations that could quickly get out of hand for police and nearby motorists.
In this case, the officers involved were chasing 50-year-old Richard Simone.
MA troopers joined the pursuit, which crossed several Bay State communities before entering New Hampshire.
Police say Simone refused to stop for local officers in Holden and led law enforcement on a wild chase that reached speeds surpassing 100 miles per hour. While he drove erratically and crashed once during his 50-mile pursuit, the chase again calls into question the merits of often-dangerous high-speed chases and the potential fallout for civilian bystanders weighed against their benefit to law enforcement. Simone couldn’t be for comment while in custody.
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The offender, Richard Simone, took police on a 140km joyride before he crashed into a pole.
