Matos Moves to Subpoena Paré for Body Cam Footage of Prov Police Sgt. Charged With Assault
GoLocalProv News Team
Matos Moves to Subpoena Paré for Body Cam Footage of Prov Police Sgt. Charged With Assault
In May, the Providence Police announced Hanley had been charged with simple assault and suspended with pay, pending an internal investigation, following an incident that took place in April.
According to police, Hanley allegedly struck an individual who had been placed in handcuffs after the police responded to a domestic dispute.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTLast week, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza announced he was recommending terminating Hanley while the investigation is currently taking place.
Call for Video
Matos has called for the City Council to issue a subpoena Paré requiring him to hand over all body camera footage in the investigation of Hanley to PERA. The call for a subpoena will be voted on by the full council at Thursday’s meeting.
According to Matos, the move comes at the request of Providence External Review Authority (PERA) Executive Director Jose Batista.
“Last week PERA held a meeting relative to the ongoing investigation into the alleged assault of a Rishod Gore, who was handcuffed at the time of the alleged assault, by Sgt. Joseph Hanley," said Matos. “The Public Safety Commissioner refused to allow PERA access to the body camera footage despite PERA being empowered by ordinance to oversee these types of internal investigations. This subpoena will now require that this footage be handed over to PERA so that they may do their due diligence as part of their review.”
On April 19, 2020, police were dispatched to a domestic dispute call on Knight Street that led to the arrest of Markese Davis and Rishod Gore. Once Gore was apprehended and handcuffed, it is alleged that Sgt. Hanley struck Mr. Gore several times. On July 8, 2020, Mayor Elorza released a statement that the City was working with the State’s Attorney General to charge Mr. Hanley and to terminate his employment with the City of Providence Police Department.
Section 18 ½ - 2 (h)(2) of the Providence Code of Ordinances establishes the procedure by which the Executive Director of the Providence External Review Authority may petition the City Council to issue a subpoena in order to assist in an investigation. Section 402 of the Providence Home Rule Charters allows for the Council President and the City Council to issue subpoenas, and in this case it allows for a subpoena for records in the possession of the Commissioner of Public Safety related to this ongoing matter.