The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office is conducting a criminal investigation to determine what amount of force was used during Simone’s arrest, said Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeff Strelzin.
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Wednesday’s chase began in Holden, Mass., where police attempted to stop Simone’s pickup truck to arrest him on multiple warrants, according to a news release from Massachusetts State Police.
Massachusetts State Police said Simone will face new charges related to the chase. CNN reports Simone was wanted for a previous failing to stop for police, assault and battery with a risky weapon, and larceny.
Investigations into the chase and arrest have since been announced in both New Hampshire and MA.
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. He had a bruised left eye and visible stitches to his left ear.
New Hampshire State Police Director Col. Robert Quinn said at a news conference that the New Hampshire trooper involved in the arrest has been “immediately” taken off the state’s payroll, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported. Mr. Pusok was then Tased and beaten by police, an incident similarly captured on video by a KNBC news helicopter.
Two police officers seemingly seen on video repeatedly punching a surrendering suspect after a police chase Wednesday were relieved from duty pending an investigation into their behavior at the scene, according to their respective departments. MA police are expected to seek Simone’s return to their state.
The chase went through several towns at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour, with the pickup truck “making abrupt lane changes as the (suspect) continued to try to evade capture” and crashing at least once, said Dave Procopio, a state police spokesman.
The goal of that internal investigation is to determine whether relevant policies, procedures, rules and regulations of our department – including those governing the use of force – were followed by our personnel.
‘The pursuit, like all pursuits that involve Massachusetts State Police, will be reviewed by the department’s pursuit committee.
She said Millbury police later learned Simone had been involved in two other police pursuits, one involving Massachusetts State Police on May 6 and a pursuit in Leicester, Mass., on May 7.
Simone is facing charges for the pursuit in addition to the warrant charges.
WBZ-TV’s helicopter video showed the truck stopped next to a utility pole on a dead-end street before police officers surrounded it with their weapons drawn.
Hassan had already issued a statement Thursday morning, saying that New Hampshire public safety officials are held to the highest standard, and that it is important that the attorney general’s office opened an investigation. “He was taken for booking by Nashua Police”. Simone is reportedly being held without bail until he can be transported back to MA, where he faces charges of assault with a unsafe weapon and fleeing from police. “We want to cooperate and collaborate in whatever way we can to make sure that this investigation in New Hampshire goes forward”.
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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.
