A Massachusetts police officer was arraigned on charges of beating a handcuffed suspect and filing a false report in court on Tuesday.
Chelsea Police Officer Felix Rivera, Jr., 33, released on his own recognizance after being indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury on charges of assault and battery, filing a false report and violating the victim's civil rights.
Rivera, who lives in Lynn and is currently suspected without pay from the department, is accused of punching a man while he was handcuffed in the back of a Chelsea home in September 2014.
The victim, who was 20 at the time and a Chelsea resident, was accused of assaulting a police officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest; however, authorities say the victim's lawyer presented prosecutors with video filmed by a witness that showed the arrest, and the unnamed victim's charges were dropped.
Afterwards, an investigation was launched that gathered evidence supporting the victim's story, including statements from other officers at the scene, authorities said.
According to the Suffolk County D.A., testimony included that when Chelsea police responded to the call on the night of Sept. 26, 2014, for a report of a man with a gun on Chestnut Street, a police supervisor determined the victim was drunk and interfering with the scene, which lead to the order to place him in protective custody and take him away from the area.
When the victim was in handcuffs and being taken away, Rivera allegedly punched him four times in the face, knocking him to the ground. An officer at the scene who allegedly reached out to stop Rivera denied Rivera's allegation in his report that the victim had pushed him while in handcuffs.
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Rivera was ordered by clerk Anne Kaczmarek to stay away from the victim. His next court date is Sept. 22. His attorney is Keith Nicholson.
