Weymouth police chief recommends ex-officer be decertified for excessive use of force

Weymouth officials are recommending that a former police officer be decertified after he punched a handcuffed man in the head 13 times and resigned before he could be fired back in July.

Weymouth Police Chief Richard Fuller said ex-officer Justin Chappell resigned from the department July 11, just days before he was due for a termination hearing following an investigation into excessive use of force.

The termination hearing, which is required by state law before a civil service employee can be discharged, was scheduled for July 14 as the result of a use of force review stemming from a July 2 arrest, the chief noted.

July 2 incident

Multiple body-worn cameras captured the scene on the evening of July 2.

Around 7:30 p.m., Chappell and two other Weymouth officers responded to a report of an intoxicated man causing a disturbance, police records confirm.

Chappell arrived at the scene first and tried to talk with the suspect, “who was heavily under the influence of alcohol, confrontational and non-compliant,” Fuller said in a statement.

There was a “violent struggle” as Chappell told the suspect to remove his hands from the pockets in his shorts, and ultimately, Chappell used his baton to strike the man’s legs and bring him to the ground, records revealed. One of the other officers arrived and helped get handcuffs on the suspect.

As the officers tried to get the suspect into the back of a police cruiser, another struggle ensued with the man continuing to yell and trying to break free from the officers, according to police records and camera footage shared with Boston.com.

The suspect planted his feet, refused to get into the cruiser, and spit in Chappell’s face, records and footage showed. As this was happening, the other officer pushed his legs into the vehicle while Chappell “delivered several hammer-fist strikes” to the suspect’s head and yelled, “Stop resisting!,” the internal investigation report noted.

“You just f***ing punched me,” the suspect is heard saying in the video footage.

The officers were still unable to get the suspect into the cruiser until a third officer arrived and helped push him into the back.

Use of force findings

An internal investigation looked closely at the incident, analyzing each officer’s use of force in response to a number of situational factors, according to the report.

Officials noted that the suspect, who “has a documented history of assaultive behavior” including at least 25 prior interactions with Weymouth police, was given “numerous opportunities to comply with the officer’s commands and refused on every occasion,” per the internal investigation report.

Chappell appeared to try various deescalation techniques prior to using force including using verbal persuasion, raising his tone, drawing his baton, making further commands before he used it, and requesting that other units step up their response, the report noted.

After careful consideration about what factors led Chappell to use force in this incident — how serious the offense was, whether the suspect posed an immediate threat to officers or others, and whether the suspect was resisting arrest — officials found that the baton strikes were within department policy, as the suspect “was non-compliant, aggressive, intoxicated, and demonstrated a potential for an imminent assault,” the report noted.

Officials said the punches to the head were excessive use of force.

In his own use of force report, Chappell described these strikes as “distraction techniques” and said he delivered four or five strikes, records noted.

However, the internal investigation found that Chappell “appeared to deliver approximately 13 strikes” with the first four seemingly without much force to the bottom left of the suspect’s head and the remaining appearing to be straight punches to the left side of the face.

“The use of force review found these latter strikes differed in intent, intensity and location and appeared to be unnecessary, unreasonable, and out of policy,” the report noted.

The report found the other officer’s use of force in trying to control the suspect and get him inside the cruiser to be within policy. Officials also noted in the report that the other officer “did not appear to witness” the head punches “or have a meaningful opportunity to intervene.”

The suspect told police that he had been drinking all day and had no recollection of his arrest or the events leading to it.

On Oct. 24, Fuller shared the results of the internal probe, as well as his recommendation that Chappell be decertified, to the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standard and Training Commission, also known as the POST Commission.

Other incidents

In the report, officials noted that Chappell, an Army veteran who had been with the department for six years, had received additional training on deescalation techniques, defensive tactics, and dealing with non-compliant subjects in 2021.

The July incident was not the first time he had faced disciplinary action or been investigated for excessive use of force.

Chappell received a written warning for conduct unbecoming of an officer from an off-duty incident in January 2022, a one-day suspension for a use of force incident in February 2022, and a verbal warning for an improper call log incident in June.

In the February 2022 incident, Chappell was one of three officers who arrived at a scene to arrest a suspect, accused of receiving a stolen motor vehicle.

During a struggle to arrest the suspect, officials found that Chappell had punched him twice in the head and called these actions “distraction techniques” in his use of force report. Officials also said that Chappell submitted this report six days late.

“Distraction techniques differ from strikes based on the intent, intensity, and location they are delivered,” officials noted in the report, adding that these actions were not within policy.

The POST Commission has not yet delivered a decision on the case against Chappell. If decertified, Chappell will no longer be able to work as a police officer in Massachusetts.

Want to leave a comment?

Create an Account Or sign in to your account

To comment, please create a screen name in your profile

To comment, please verify your email address

Conversation

This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com