By Steve Klamkin WPRO News
A grand jury has declined to indict two Providence police officers at the center of a July, 2021 ‘use of force’ incident stemming from the arrest of a group of juvenile suspects after a high speed pursuit.
Police body cam footage showed Officer Domingo Diaz allegedly punching and spitting at one of the teens, and Officer Mitchel Voyer allegedly striking a teen, but the grand jury returned without charging the pair, who had been suspended for the maximum two days under the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights.
It was that state law that officials said on Thursday, prevented them from talking further about the cases and whether the pair would face more departmental discipline.
“We’re limited in what we can say publicly,” said Mayor Jorge Elorza Thursday. “You know, the comments that we made shortly after it, those comments still stand. But unfortunately, because of LEOBOR, we have to be very careful about what we say about this situation at the risk of jeopardizing any action that’s taken in the future on this.”
Soon after the incident came to light, Elorza and Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare called the footage “appalling”.
“My reaction then hasn’t changed,” said Pare. “It’s troubling, and I can’t say anything beyond that because the process has got to move forward.”
Attorney General Peter Neronha explained the rationale behind the grand jury’s decision not to charge the officers.
“You know, the standard is, would a reasonable officer faced with these facts have acted the same way or done something different in terms of the use of force in bringing the individual under arrest, and ultimately the grand jury reached the conclusion we did, and I respect that,” Neronha told WPRO’s Matt Allen on Thursday.
“We just got the report yesterday from the Attorney General’s office,” Pare said. “We’re going to continue to review and then administratively look to see what sanctions and what policy violations may have occurred, and then we’ll proceed from there.”
Pare said that Officer Diaz was on leave from the police department on military duty out of the country, scheduled to return in November, and that no action would occur in the case until then.
