A police officer in Fall River, Massachusetts, has been convicted of violating a man's civil rights after hitting him in the head with a baton three years ago and filing false reports to cover it up.
Federal prosecutors say 37-year-old Nicholas Hoar was found guilty Thursday of deprivation of rights under color of law, as well as two counts of false reports. He is due to be sentenced April 24.
Hoar was arrested in November of 2022 on charges dating back to December of 2020, when Hoar attacked a man who had been arrested with a baton, injuring him. The Herald News has reported that the man was handcuffed at the time.
Hoar submitted two police reports, the day of the incident and the day after, with neither mentioning his use of a baton against the man.
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The victim previously sued the city and received $65,000 in a settlement, according to the Herald News.
The office of Joshua Levy, acting U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, said the rights deprivation charge carries a sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000, while each false reports charge provides for a sentence as long as 20 years in prison and a fine as high as $250,000.
Before the 2020 case, Hoar fired six shots through a windshield, hitting 19-year-old Larry Ruiz-Barreto five times and killing him while responding to a drag race, the Herald News reported. The Bristol County District Attorney's Office cleared him of wrongdoing, but a $34 million lawsuit from Ruiz-Barreto's family is pending in federal court.
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The four-day trial in the arrestee attack did not include that deadly shooting, the newspaper reported.
The Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, which overseas policing in Massachusetts, lists Hoar as having been suspended.
