Michael Pessoa remained a police officer for nearly two decades despite receiving frequent complaints of physical and verbal abuse, exposing the limits of the Fall River Police Department’s attempts to police itself.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/6409139

A review by The Public’s Radio of court records and internal affairs documents, some of which were destroyed by the Fall River Police Department and recovered through other sources, revealed that at least twelve other civilians accused Pessoa of excessive force before Lafrance. Records show Pessoa was never disciplined for those incidents until the DA started probing Pessoa’s past, even though patterns of concerning allegations had been clear to Pessoa’s superior officers.

Civilians reported Pessoa for placing them in chokeholds at least three times, and bystanders repeatedly claimed that Pessoa would break their phones if they tried to film arrests. Other civilians complained of serious injuries.