Three Massachusetts cops have been fired this month, prompting the Police Chief to release video footage showing them beating a man in a jail cell. The incident occurred on June 19, 2016 after David Desjardins Jr. was arrested for causing a scene at a bar located at Six Flags, New England. He was pepper sprayed, hand-cuffed and brought to the county jail. Despite his belligerent behavior, he didn’t deserve what came next.
The video shows Desjardins sitting on a bench in a holding area, when he is tossed into a jail cell by three guards. Once inside the cell, Desjardins does show some signs of resistance, however, he received a massive beating – well beyond the level of resistance he has shown. The three officers, who were terminated as a result of this video, were identified as John P. Moccio, Edward B. Connor, and Anthony Grasso. All officers involved were veteran officers with many years on the job. One of the officers was a sergeant.
According to the original narrative, Desjardins resisted attempts to be put in the cell, and officers used only enough force as was necessary to control him. Obviously, the officers involved were liberal with their version of the truth. According to Police Chief Gills, however, the officers clearly violated department policy and did in fact, use excessive force. There is one point in the video, where Desjardins is in the bed in the cell and the officers are walking out, when one of them decides to reengage Desjardins, striking him with his baton. At this time, every action taken by the officers were violations of force policy, as he no longer posed a threat.
Despite the obvious wrongdoing on the part of the officers and their termination, District Attorney Anthony Gulluni stated that his office will not pursue charges against the officers. “I did inform him (Gills) verbally that the office, based on an investigation and review of the evidence, would not be pursing criminal charges against any of the three officers.” Although there will be no criminal charges, Chief Gills stated that he received a lot of backlash over the terminations, yet remains confident that his decision was the right one.
“When I saw the video I was shocked by it. I knew that it was very serious and as the investigation proceeded it became more and more clear to me how serious it really was,” the chief told the press. “As chief of police it’s my job to make sure that our officers conduct selves appropriately at all times.”
Thankfully, the chief was able to see the beating for what it was; the outrage of officers and not a law enforcement function. The firing of these officers is a small step in the right direction, a lead that more law enforcement agencies need to follow.
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Cops are criminals just hiding behind a badge just like pedophiles are hiding as behind a religious robe!!!!