Longer video of the #Nashua, N.H., arrest after a police pursuit. #WBZ pic.twitter.com/qPY3DD1ny5
— Liam Martin (@LiamWBZ) May 11, 2016
Videos from news helicopters appear to show Massachusetts and New Hampshire police punching a suspect at the end of a lengthy high-speed chase, raising questions of whether the officers used excessive force.
The suspect has his hands up and is starting to get down on the ground when several officers approach with their guns drawn and jump on him, hitting him several times.
The chase involved the Massachusetts State Police, New Hampshire State Police and Nashua Police. The Massachusetts troopers are wearing light blue, the New Hampshire troopers are in green and the Nashua officers are in dark blue:
The police pursuit began Wednesday in Holden, Massachusetts, and initially involved just the Massachusetts State Police, according to tweets from Matthew Gregoire, who reports on local scanner traffic. It eventually crossed into neighboring New Hampshire, were New Hampshire State Police an Nashua Police joined in.
The chase reached speeds higher than 95 mph, according to police radio traffic.
The pursuit ended when the suspect’s vehicle struck a police cruiser and then ended up in a dead-end.
The suspect, who was driving a pickup truck, has been identified as Richard Simone, 50, of Worcester, Massachusetts. Police said he was wanted on multiple warrants and failed to stop when police tried to pull him over. He has a history of not stopping for police, according to police scanner audio.
He was wanted on warrants for larceny, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and failure to stop.
The chase lasted more than an hour.
Several local reporters tweeted videos showing the ending of the chase, which you can watch below:
POLICE CHASE: Man gets out of truck in #Nashua after pursuit, lies down. Officers punch him repeatedly. #WBZ pic.twitter.com/C6MOSZssBf
— Liam Martin (@LiamWBZ) May 11, 2016
BREAKING: Police move in to subdue suspect after pursuit. #FOX25
Police chase just ended…with this. View from SkyFox @fox25news pic.twitter.com/efAINAk9or
— Blair Miller (@BlairMillerTV) May 11, 2016
Former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, now a security analyst, told WBZ-TV that the officers’ actions appeared to be “questionable.”
Ed Davis just reviewed the video with us. He calls the officers’ actions “questionable” but “too early” to reach conclusions. More at 6.
“It does appear that he’s complying with the officers’ orders. Until they start to move very close to him, there doesn’t appear to be a problem,” Davis told WBZ. “What happened in those last seconds is going to be crucial to this investigation. But clearly, this is a tough video.”
A spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police told WHDH-TV that an internal investigation is likely, based on the video.
The New Hampshire governor’s office said in a statement that the incident will be reviewed.
New Hampshire State Police and Nashua Police haven’t commented.
