New Worcester Police Use-Of-Force Incident Among 36 Under Inquiry

WORCESTER, MA — The Worcester police Bureau of Professional Standards is investigating an officer's conduct after a video emerged this week that appears to show him slap a man who's lying on a stretcher. The inquiry is one of 36 open misconduct investigations into officer behavior at the moment, a department spokesperson said Thursday.

The video of the slapping incident surfaced on social media, and was first publicized by MassLive on Wednesday. The video was taken by a man named John Smith, who was driving down Main Street on Tuesday afternoon.

In the video, a man can be seen lying on a stretcher about to be loaded into a Vital EMS ambulance. The video shows one of three officers standing around the stretcher hit the man in the head. A paramedic can be seen holding the man's legs down as Smith drives by.

In a statement, Worcester police Chief Steven Sargent said the man had spit at police in the moments before the video was taken.

"Today, I was made aware of a video that appears to show a Worcester police officer using force after a man was spitting at officers," Sargent's statement said. "The incident has been referred to the Bureau of Professional Standards for investigation. We hold our officers to the highest standard and are fully committed to investigating every complaint, regardless of its source."

The department has a web portal available to anyone who wants to make a complaint — or give a compliment — about an officer. Complaints can be made over harassment, verbal or physical abuse, or if a person witnesses an officer commit a crime.

After someone submits a complaint, the internal Bureau of Professional Standards investigates and makes one of seven determinations — ranging from confirming an incident to exonerating the officer.

Worcester police declined to provide the name of the officer accused of hitting the man on the stretcher citing the open internal investigation. The department also would not disclose his rank, how long he has been employed with the department, or if he's been investigated for misconduct before.

The city of Worcester is beginning a process to provide body-worn cameras for all officers. City officials say bodycams will help with a range of issues, from providing transparency to helping deescalate tense situations. On Tuesday, the City Council voted to pursue finding money to pay for the bodycam program, which could cost between $9 and $11 million over the first five years.

The group Defund WPD is opposing the bodycam program, arguing that the money would be better spent on the city's human services department.

"[T]he body camera program’s $4.4 million start-up cost is more than the entirety of the Fiscal Year 2021 budget for the city’s Department of Health and Human Services," a Defund WPD statement on the bodycam vote said.

The man on the stretcher in Smith's video was the subject of a mental health call, according to MassLive. Last week, Sargent sent a report to City Council on the department's 2019 bodycam pilot program, which lasted between May and October. In it, an officer highlights the difficulty of responding mental health calls, nothing that bodycams don't necessarily help.

"However, another officer pointed out that the majority of people with whom he has confrontations have mental illness, and they generally do not change their behavior because of the presence of a camera," the report said. "At the very least, [body-worn cameras] have the potential to deescalate some citizens."