'I knew we'd end up here': Fall River officers testify in day 3 of police brutality trial

BOSTON — Both federal prosecutors and the defense rested their cases on Day Three of the trial of Fall River police officer Nicholas Hoar, who is accused of lying on police reports to cover up his use of excessive force on a man in custody inside a police headquarters jail cell three years ago.

The incident was investigated by the FBI, and Hoar was indicted in November 2022.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristina E. Barclay and John J. Reynolds III introduced testimony from seven witnesses, including retired Fall River Police Sgt. Jeffrey Maher, and two other fellow officers from the FRPD who were on duty the night of the alleged incident.

Hoar, a fifth-generation Fall River police officer, did not testify in his own defense. He is not legally obligated to do so. Defense attorney Leonardo A. Angiulo rested without calling any witnesses.

Both sides will present closing arguments to a jury of 14, on Thursday morning before they deliberate their decision on whether Hoar is guilty of one count of deprivation of rights under color of law resulting in bodily injury for allegedly striking then-prisoner Harvey in a jail cell, and two counts of filing false reports for lying about the excessive force incident.

On Tuesday, the federal prosecutors presented police surveillance footage in the booking room that showed images of Harvey, arrested shortly before midnight on a charge of domestic assault on Dec. 21, 2020, but there are no surveillance cameras inside the holding cells, so the alleged strike by Hoar is not caught on camera.

Officer’s account of baton strike allegation

Maher was one of four booking room officers that night. He testified that Harvey was intoxicated and belligerent, but not threatening when he was brought to the booking room.

Maher said he tried to calm Harvey down, “but it didn’t work,” and decided to bring him to the cell to calm down and then went to get him a blanket.

When he returned, Maher said, he observed Harvey resist as the officers were trying to walk him down a hallway toward the cell.

Maher said he positioned himself and observed Hoar in control of Harvey, pushing him into the cell. He said then Hoar requested the baton from one of the other officers after Harvey kicked at him, and the officer took a couple of strides into Harvey’s cell.

“He lurched forward and hit him in the head,” said Maher, responding to the prosecutor’s question that the strike sounded like bat hitting a ball.

Maher testified that he was upset by what he witnessed.

“I was pretty pissed off, because I knew we’d end up here,” said Maher.

He testified that after being hit by the baton, Harvey appeared stunned.

“Harvey was sitting on the bunk, with his head between his knees holding his head,” he testified.

After Harvey was taken to the hospital to care for his head injury, where he received five stitches, Hoar wrote a report that Harvey had attempted to kick him in the groin and that he pushed him away to make some distance between the two; he claimed Harvey fell and hit his head on a metal bench.

Hoar also wrote a use of force report that reflected his report and never identified that he used a baton while trying to control Harvey.

Testifying retired officer received immunity for cooperation

The night of the alleged assault, Maher did not file a report on his observations of what occurred between Hoar and Harvey until later, when a sergeant ordered him to write an account of Harvey’s injuries.

Officers Brendan McNerney and Zachary Vorce, who were in the booking room and holding cell that night, had corroborated Hoar’s account, which he initially did as well.

Maher said the truth would have put all the officers in a bad position, and the other officers were young officers.

He also noted a professional relationship he had with Hoar’s father, retired Fall River police sergeant Michael Hoar.

“Nick’s father was very helpful in the beginning of my career,” said Maher, who testified that he self-reported his lie to internal affairs and received immunity before cooperating with FBI investigators.

On cross-examination by Angiulo, Maher said the only thing that was not truthful in Hoar’s report was that Harvey had not struck his head on the metal bench that caused his injury.

Testimony that Hoar violated department’s use-of-force policies

Several of the prosecution’s witnesses indicated that Hoar’s use of the baton during the incident with Harvey was inappropriate and against the department’s use-of-force policies.

Specifically, officers are trained not to strike parts of the body identified as red zones, particularly the head area.

Police Lt. David Gouveia, an officer trainer and use-of-force instructor for the Fall River Police Department and presented as an expert in the field by the government, said that the amount of force used by a police officer with a baton depends on the threat level but can’t be used “to punish someone.”

Gouveia said a strike to the head would only be allowed under police policy if a threat to an officer or others was at the highest level.

Responding to a series of questions from Barclay, Gouveia said that a police officer must have a reasonable perception of a situation, that officers are trained to recognize a threat level, and that an officer should stop use of force when no longer necessary in an encounter.

Gouveia also testified that between 2017 and 2020, Hoar passed all his annual in-service training, including baton training.

Hoar received de-escalation training two months before alleged baton strike

Retired Chelsea Police Captain Thomas Dunn, a police training facilitator, testified on Wednesday that he trained Hoar in de-escalation techniques on Oct. 21, 2020, which includes making distance from a person in crisis and to “have a conversation” if no one is in lethal jeopardy.

“Because space and time is always at our advantage,” said Dunn.

When the prosecutor asked if the training also dealt with people under the influence of drug and alcohol, Dunn said, “That’s what our training is all about.”

Alleged victim did not testify

Harvey was never called to the stand by either the federal prosecutors or the defense during the testimony portion of the trial.

Harvey had spoken with several media outlets, including The Herald News, and gave the account that he had been assaulted by Hoar before he was brought into the booking room while being led out of the police vehicle.

Angiulo had filed a motion to present an interview with Harvey and a reporter from WJAR in Providence that differed from the findings by the FBI.

U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs denied the request.

Before resting his case, Angiulo was denied a motion that Hoar be acquitted by Burroughs before the jury began its deliberations, which was also denied.

Hoar was the police officer involved in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old New Bedford man at the Fall River Industrial Park in 2017. The Bristol County District Attorney's office determined in a 2018 report that Hoar was justified and cleared of any wrongdoing. Hoar is one of nearly two dozen defendants named in a multi-million lawsuit by the family of the New Bedford man.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River police brutality trial: Both sides rest their case