Prosecutors say that Fall River Police Officer Nicholas Hoar injured the suspect by hitting him in the head with a batton on Dec. 21, 2020. Hoar allegedly lied in his report about the incident, claiming the suspect, William Harvey, hit his head on a wall while resisting arrest.
The City of Fall River has already paid Harvey $65,000 to settle a lawsuit he filed against Hoar. But now, Harvey’s complaint has led to criminal charges as well.
A grand jury indicted Hoar on one count of depriving a defendant of their rights and two counts of filing a false report. The indictment said that Hoar “assaulted arrestee W.H. with a baton, willfully depriving W.H. of the right, secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States, to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer.”
The indictment also alleges that Hoar “knowingly concealed, covered up, falsified and made a false entry in a record and document with the intent to impede, obstruct and influence the investigation” of a federal agency.
Hoar pleaded not guilty to the charges in federal court in Boston on Wednesday. He was released without bail.
Internal affairs records show the Fall River Police Department had cleared Hoar in at least four other investigations into excessive force complaints before Harvey’s family brought his case to the FBI.
Hoar is also being sued by the family of a teenager he shot and killed while breaking up a car race in 2017. The Bristol County District Attorney found Hoar’s use of lethal force in that case justified.
Earlier this year, another Fall River police officer, Michael Pessoa, was fired for filing a false report to cover up a separate alleged assault of a suspect from 2018.
Ben Berke is the South Coast Bureau Reporter for The Public’s Radio. He can be reached at bberke@thepublicsradio.org. Follow him on Twitter @BenBerke6.
