Video shows state trooper punching detainee
(WJAR) Video showing a veteran Rhode Island state trooper using force against a suspect in a holding cell has been released from a federal court seal. The video was taken in 2014 and shows Trooper Jamie Donnelly-Taylor walking suspect Lionel Monsanto into a cell at the Lincoln state police barracks. Donnelly-Taylor is then seen throwing more than a half dozen punches at Monsanto, who falls to the floor. Just minutes before, the two men are seen in a booking room. Monsanto was argumentative after the traffic stop, and called the trooper “racist” before their walk down to the cell block.
Colonel of the State Police, James Manni, called the video “disturbing” at Rhode Island State Police headquarters on Monday.
“This behavior is not condoned by the men and women of the Rhode Island State Police and doesn’t reflect on the standards of training we have,” said Manni.
The tape has been part of an ongoing legal battle between the trooper, state police, and the attorney general’s office.
Donnelly-Taylor was first indicted by a grand jury and pleaded no contest to simple assault, but said he did so because he’d been assured the plea would prevent the video from becoming public and the state would represent him in any lawsuit, according to a statement from his attorney.
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