PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Providence police officer has been indicted on charges that he assaulted a restrained man with a flashlight.
A Providence County grand jury on Monday charged Detective Robert DeCarlo with assault with a dangerous weapon and misdemeanor simple assault during the Oct. 20 arrest of Luis Mendonca.
Surveillance video in a Providence parking lot shows police surrounding an apparently handcuffed Mendonca as one officer kicks and strikes him. A lawyer for the 21-year-old Mendonca has said his client was in a coma for two days and needed staples to close a gash in his head.
DeCarlo is the third Rhode Island police officer in as many months to be charged with beating a suspect.
His lawyer says the video doesn't tell the full story and that his client was reacting to a very dangerous situation.
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