State Troopers Charged with Assault After Beating Motorist

 

In this scene from video shot from a news helicopter, officers from several departments converge on Richard Simone after he was subdued outside his truck on a dead-end street in Nashua following a two-state chase. (REUTERS)    

Authorities in New Hampshire arrested two state troopers Tuesday and charged them with assault for their actions during a violent arrest captured on video earlier this year.

After a long police chase that began in Massachusetts and ended in New Hampshire, at least two officers were seen on the video repeatedly punching the driver who had led the pursuit.

After video of the May 11 incident began to spread online, Joseph Foster, the New Hampshire attorney general, launched a criminal investigation into the episode. New Hampshire State Police and Massachusetts State Police each pulled a trooper involved in the incident from duty while the investigation was carried out.

Foster said Joseph Flynn, 32, of the Massachusetts State Police, and Andrew Monaco, 31, of the New Hampshire State Police were arrested and charged with simple assault for their use of force during the arrest. Flynn was charged with two counts of simple assault, while Monaco was charged with three counts of simple assault.

The car chase began when police in Holden, Mass., tried to stop a pickup truck driven by Richard Simone of Worcester, according to the Massachusetts State Police. Simone, 50, was the subject of warrants for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, larceny and failure to stop for officers, authorities said.

— Mark Berman

CONNECTICUT

Father, son must testify about drones

A federal judge has ordered a father and his teenage son to testify under oath at depositions and hand over documents about drones shown in online videos firing a gun and deploying a flamethrower in their back yard.

Judge Jeffrey Meyer ruled Monday in the case of Bret Haughwout and his son, Austin Haughwout, 19, who have refused to comply with Federal Aviation Administration subpoenas seeking their testimony and documents. The judge ordered them to comply within 30 days.

Austin Haughwout uploaded the videos to his YouTube channel last year. One video, viewed nearly 3.8 million times, shows a flying drone equipped with a handgun firing rounds. Another video, viewed nearly 600,000 times, shows a flying drone with a flamethrower lighting up a spit-roasting Thanksgiving turkey.

Federal prosecutors, on behalf of the FAA, argued the subpoenas are part of a legitimate investigation into potential violations of FAA regulations banning people from operating “aircraft” in a reckless manner.

The Haughwouts’ lawyer, Mario Cerame, told the judge in New Haven that the subpoenas violate their constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures and questioned the agency’s authority to regulate recreational drones.

— Associated Press

Crane crash halts traffic on New York bridge: A huge crane toppled off the new Tappan Zee Bridge under construction north of New York City and collapsed across the busy span it is replacing, halting traffic Tuesday afternoon on the key Hudson River crossing. No cars were hit by the crane’s arm as it came down about noon, but Rockland County Executive Ed Day wrote on Twitter that three people sustained minor injuries when vehicles swerved and stopped to avoid the wreckage. The Coast Guard said the crane’s operator was rescued from the water after the collapse.

Sewage spill closes beaches around Los Angeles: At least 1.5 million gallons of sewage spewed from a 90-year-old pipe that burst in an industrial area near downtown Los Angeles, leading beaches to close 20 miles downriver in Long Beach, officials said Tuesday. The top of the 60-inch underground sewer pipe collapsed Monday afternoon, causing a blockage and forcing it to overflow and belch a stinky sludge onto streets and into drains that flow into the concrete-bottomed Los Angeles River. Workers stopped the spill in a commercial district filled with warehouses about 11 p.m., said Heather Johnson of L.A.’s Bureau of Sanitation.

Alaska mountain goat drowns after being crowded out by tourists: A mountain goat drowned after photo-taking onlookers crowded the wild animal at a boat harbor in Seward, Alaska, and it leaped from rocks into the ocean, an official said Tuesday. The animal swam out into Resurrection Bay but was unable to climb back onto the rocks due to the people standing there gawking at it, which led to it drowning on Saturday, Alaska state troopers said in an online dispatch.

— From news services