Concord Police Officer Found Innocent In April 2023 Assault Case

CONCORD, NH — It took more than four hours, but a jury found a Concord police officer, accused of assaulting a homeless man who was heavily intoxicated in 2023, innocent of the charges.

Richard Cobb, 41, of Prescott Valley, Arizona, currently on unpaid administrative leave, was found not guilty on two simple assault-unprivileged contact charges when he was assisting in placing Blake Andrew Thomas-Haney, 38, a transient from Missouri and Texas, into handcuffs and under protective custody on April 1, 2023, after an incident outside of Sal’s Pizza on Storrs Street.

Cobb, who was placed on leave in May 2023, and his attorney, Eric Wilson of Wilson, Bush & Keefe of Nashua, were pleased and relieved by the result.

Closing Statements

Both the defense and prosecution revisited their presentations of the two-day trial.

Wilson focused on police training standards that Cobb learned in 2017, and both defense and prosecution witnesses admitting resisting arrest scenarios were not pretty and, in fact, potentially dangerous or difficult.

“Sometimes arrests go pretty; sometimes they don’t go pretty,” he said.

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Placing someone in custody, Wilson said, was one of the most dangerous tasks an officer faces. Most, he said, are routine. While they were cuffing Thomas-Haney, Wilson said he could still have a weapon.

Cobb also requested Thomas-Haney to stop resisting repeatedly, as he was not being arrested but was only being taken into protective custody.

Wilson said the jurors would have a laptop and be able to watch the video themselves. They have learned, he said, about training and processes, as well as a lot of information about handcuffing people. Wilson said the two officers at the scene also gave testimony to the jurors.

Wilson also stated officers, firefighters, and hospital staffers, too, saw Thomas-Haney’s belligerent and out-of-control behavior.

The state investigator said Cobb’s leg sweep was OK, but he did not keep control of the suspect, Wilson said. On cross though, he added, the video showed Cobb trying to hold onto Thomas-Haney when he was taken down.

“The takedown is not supposed to be slow,” Wilson said.

While Cobb was being charged with simple assault-unprivileged contact, the process of arresting a suspect, using force when they are resisting, to take them into custody, was not illegal.

“While that may not be privileged, it’s lawful,” Wilson said.

Wilson also told the jury not to think of the case as what they would have done but, instead, consider the rapidly involving danger the officers may have faced during the incident.

“Richard has no burden here,” Wilson said. “He came in an innocent man, and I’m asking you to let him leave an innocent man.”

“Take me to the station,” Fincham said Thomas-Haney said, his arms stretched out as he opened his closing.

Fincham said Thomas-Haney was in danger and needed a public servant to protect him. He could barely stand or walk and could not follow simple instructions. What may be easy for us to understand, this man was unable to do, Fincham said.

Fincham said, without provocation, Thomas-Haney was slammed to the ground — and then, Fincham pounded the podium. He accused Cobb of losing control when he threw and slammed Thomas-Haney into the ground.

“This was not a leg sweep,” he said. “This was tripping somebody.”

Fincham turned more dramatic and told the jurors the officers “owned” suspects in situations like Cobb and Officer George Tarwo faced on April 1, 2023. He called it “unnecessary and unreasonable” to have taken such action against the suspect.

“He did not try and de-escalate the situation — he was the escalation,” Fincham said, pounding on the podium again, “‘I have to deal with you people all the time,’” he surmised Cobb, thinking to himself.

Fincham said Thomas-Haney was not a danger to the “two big officers,” and they should not have feared the suspect. The active warrant they found out about was a liquor violation.

Fincham then told the jury Cobb believed beating suspects with a metal bar was reasonable. The only reason he did not beat him with a metal bar was he would “lose a hand,” something he was not worried about when they took down Thomas-Haney, he said.

Fincham said, since Thomas-Haney was homeless and in distress, he needed to be helped, not harmed. That was the task of a public servant, he added.

Judge Dan St. Hilaire issued instructions to the jury, and the jurors left the courtroom around 10:20 a.m.

At 10:34 a.m., St. Hilaire returned to the courtroom to discuss getting a laptop to the jury and whether they could access other files. Dan Jimenez, from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, showed that previously read files could not be accessed without the remote hard drives. He showed the judge the icons and then wanted to ensure the jury had access to the video files. The laptop was then brought to the jury.

Around 2:45 p.m., court officials told the attorneys and members of the media the jury had returned a verdict.

Verdict Reaction

Cobb, clearly emotional, hugged family and friends, with them weeping and holding back tears, elated by the outcome issued by the seven women and five men (an eighth woman was separated from the jury as an alternate).

When exiting the courtroom, a reporter for WMUR-TV asked Cobb if he had any comment.

“Not to you guys, no,” he said while walking by.

Fincham said he respected the jury’s decision and called it a case that should have been presented to the jury. When asked if anything could have been done differently, he said, “Things can always go differently during a trial. But it was a well-tried case. Attorney Wilson tried the case; we put on the best case we could. The verdict was for the jury to decide.”

When Fincham was asked about the second case, he said it was still pending.

“We’ll evaluate that and make a decision,” Fincham said. “I have nothing to comment about (it).”

Several jurors approached Cobb and his family outside the courthouse and wished him well. One told Wilson he did a great job defending Cobb.

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