A federal criminal trial begins Monday for a suspended Fall River police officer accused of beating a suspect and filing a false report to cover it up. 

Nicholas Hoar, a fifth-generation Fall River policeman with a lengthy internal affairs file, faces criminal charges alleging he struck a man on the head with a baton, opening up a gash that required five stitches to close. 

Federal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office allege Hoar and another officer filed false reports to hide details about the violent booking process that led to the man’s injuries. The other officer later recanted his statements and now plans to testify against Hoar. 

The trial, which is expected to last one week, will shed light on yet another case where Fall River police officers are accused of covering up excessive force with false reports. Hoar’s trial begins less than eight months after former officer Michael Pessoa was convicted in a similar case and sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail. 

Hoar was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2022, opening up a criminal case against him at the same time he was fighting a high-stakes lawsuit about another violent incident from his past. Hoar shot and killed a teenager while breaking up a car race in Fall River’s industrial park in 2017, an incident for which he was cleared of wrongdoing despite conflicting claims over whether Hoar fired in self-defense. The ensuing lawsuit, through which the teenager’s family is seeking $34 million in damages, will remain on hold until Hoar’s criminal trial concludes.

Federal prosecutors initially sought to introduce evidence about the fatal shooting at this week’s trial, but U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs ruled the information could unfairly prejudice the jury against Hoar. 

Still, prosecutors have permission to introduce other controversial incidents from Hoar’s past, which they say will show that Hoar had already received several interventions instructing him on the boundaries of appropriate uses of force. 

A court filing by the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Hoar filed 28 use of force reports in a span of four years leading up to the alleged beating he is now standing trial for.

Prosecutors argued that Hoar knew his frequent uses of force “triggered scrutiny from supervisors” and resulted in a brief transfer to an administrative role, “which motivated the Defendant to lie about his use of force on this occasion.”

An arrest that turned violent

Hoar is facing charges for his conduct during the arrest of William Harvey, a 55-year-old Black man brought to the Fall River police station on charges of domestic violence in December 2020. 

Prosecutors concede that Harvey was “uncooperative” as police moved him into a holding cell, though to what extent is disputed. Hoar said in a police report that Harvey tried to kick his groin, striking his inner thigh instead. 

Hoar reported that he then retaliated in self-defense, pushing Harvey backwards to create distance, which caused Harvey to fall and knock his head into the wall. 

Prosecutors allege that Hoar lied in the reports he filed that night. In court filings, prosecutors accuse Hoar of striking Harvey’s head with a baton so hard that it opened up a gash that required five stitches to close. In their court filings, prosecutors also cast doubt on whether Harvey’s kick actually made contact with Hoar. 

What the trial will look like

The purpose of the trial is to determine whether Hoar used disproportionate force and lied in his reports about the arrest. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office indicated in court filings that it does not plan to call Harvey as a witness. Instead, prosecutors will seek to establish the facts of the case through surveillance videos from the police station, testimony from Fall River police officers, and Harvey’s booking photo and medical records, among other evidence.

One of the key witnesses prosecutors expect to call is the booking officer who processed Harvey’s arrest, Jeffrey Maher. Maher initially filed a report that supported Hoar’s account of the evening but later took back his statement. 

According to the prosecutors’ court filings, Maher’s report “claimed he could not see anything because of a glare on the glass between his vantage point in the hallway and the interior of the cell.”

But prosecutors said that, several days later, Maher came clean “on his own accord” and belatedly reported “what had actually occurred in the cell that evening.” Their court filings refer to Harvey, the alleged victim, by his initials, W.H.

“The government anticipates that Officer Maher will testify that he left the cell area in disgust with the Defendant’s disproportionate response to W.H.’s actions, returning a few minutes later to see W.H. bleeding from his head and requiring medical attention,” prosecutors said in a court filing.