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Former Fall River police officer sentenced to more than 2 years in prison for assaulting handcuffed man

Nicholas Hoar, 37, was found guilty in February of one count of deprivation of rights under color of law and two counts of false reports.

April 24, 2024

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A former Fall River police officer was sentenced Wednesday to serve more than two years in prison for assaulting a handcuffed man in custody with a baton and then failing to document the incident in later reports.

Nicholas Hoar, 37, was convicted in February of one count of deprivation of rights under color of law and two counts of false reports. On Wednesday he was sentenced to 33 months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, according to the office of acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy.

“Police officers take an oath to uphold the law and the vast majority of men and women in uniform bravely protect and serve the public across this District each and every day,” Levy said in a statement. “Nicholas Hoar violated his oath and broke the law. This lengthy prison sentence sends a message to the entire community that we will continue to hold members of law enforcement accountable when they violate a person’s civil rights.”

Prosecutors said that on Dec. 21, 2020, Hoar struck a man who had been arrested in the forehead with a police baton that resulted in the man needing stitches. Hoar was on duty with the Fall River Police Department at the time, and authorities said that he submitted two official reports that failed to mention that he had struck the man in the head with the baton and instead, in one report, blamed the injury on a fall.