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Former Mass. police captain indicted, arrested for alleged booking room assault
Video footage shows the former police captain suddenly grabbing and tackling a man being detained.
A former Lawrence police captain has been indicted by a grand jury for allegedly assaulting a detainee and falsifying reports about the incident, court filings show.
Michael Mangan, who once led the Lawrence Police Department’s Special Operations division, was indicted Tuesday on two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law and two counts of false report, according to the indictment. The accusations stem from a 2023 incident in which Mangan allegedly attacked Sodiq Amusat, 29, as he was being booked.
Amusat filed a civil rights lawsuit following the alleged assault, which was captured on a surveillance video recording, according to the complaint filed in federal court. He was arrested March 10, 2023 after a neighbor complained to police about the volume of the music in his apartment.
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As Amusat was booked, Mangan “clotheslined” him without warning, wrapping his arm around Amusat’s neck and driving his head “into a metal door and onto the concrete floor,” the complaint states. Mangan then tackled Amust, pressed him into the ground, and handcuffed him.
Mangan stated in filed police reports documenting the incident that his attack was provoked when Amusat “slightly turned and bladed his body” and simultaneously “threw his outstretched right arm to grab at my face with his fingers in a grabbing motion.” Despite this, the surveillance footage shows that Amusat “did not physically resist” and presented no danger, according to the complaint.
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Lawrence police launched an investigation, and Mangan was placed on paid administrative leave effective May 8, 2023, court records show. Amusat’s civil rights lawsuit was later ordered stayed July 31, 2024 and remains pending.
In January 2025, nearly two years after the incident, NBC10 Boston released footage showing the altercation between Mangan and Amusat. In the surveillance footage released by NBC10 Boston, Amusat can be seen gesticulating with both arms as officers flank him on either side. Mangan then suddenly grabs and pins down Amusat, who appears to hit his head on a metal door as he falls.
That same month, Mangan retired due to an unrelated on-duty injury, according to The Boston Globe.
FBI agents sent subpoenas to four Lawrence police officers, two of whom assisted in Amusat’s arrest, days after the footage was published. The Essex District Attorney’s office had previously decided not to charge Mangan, the Globe reported.
Amusat was not named in Tuesday’s indictment, although the date of the alleged incident and police report excerpts cited in the indictment match the corresponding ones in Amusat’s civil rights suit.
The indictment says that Mangan violated the victim’s constitutional rights by using unreasonable force against him as a law enforcement officer. By allegedly falsifying the subsequent records, Mangan obstructed and influenced the department’s “investigation and proper administration.”
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Following the indictment, Mangan was arrested and arraigned Wednesday in federal court, according to the Globe. He was released on conditions and is due back in court Dec. 17 for his next hearing.
Mangan has repeatedly denied the allegations against him in court filings for Amusat’s civil rights lawsuit. Boston.com could not immediately reach a lawyer for Mangan to comment on the indictment Wednesday night.
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