STATE POLICE

Former State Trooper Pleads No Contest to Assault, Kidnapping

A former state trooper accused of beating a man for hours in a Wethersfield home pleaded no contest to three felony charges Wednesday.

Rupert Laird, 32, pleaded no contest to second-degree assault, second-degree kidnapping and cruelty to persons.

Laird, of Manchester, and former trooper Xaxier Cruz were both charged and suspended from the Connecticut State Police Department in 2017 after they were accused of brutally beating the victim because the man touched a woman the state troopers know. The troopers allegedly went as far as making the man kneel on a metal grater.

Both were eventually terminated from the department.

The assault happened at Cruz’s Wethersfield home when both state troopers were off-duty. 

Photos: Mug Shots and Official Photos of State Troopers Charged With Kidnapping, Assault

Police began investigating on Monday, Feb. 20, 2017, after a nurse from Saint Francis Hospital reported that a man arrived there to be treated and said he’d been beaten on Saturday. 

After speaking with the nurse, police officers met with the victim, who was in pain and covered in dark purple bruises on his chest, back, thighs, stomach and buttocks, according to court documents. 

When police spoke with the victim, he provided a detailed description of the alleged attack and said Laird punched him at least 20 times, kicked him as many times and struck him with a police baton at least 15 times. 

According to court documents, Laird and Cruz targeted the victim because he flirted with a woman and grabbed her buttocks. 

Laird is scheduled for sentencing on October 2.

Cruz pleaded guilty to cruelty to a person, assault and unlawful restraint charges earlier this year. He is scheduled for sentencing on July 17.

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