(NECN) - A Seabrook, N.H.
police officer has been indicted in connection with a 2009 police brutality
case.
New Hampshire Attorney General
Joseph Foster announced Thursday that the Rockingham County Superior Court
grand jury returned an indictment charging Officer Mark Richardson with one
count of simple assault. Because Richardson was an on-duty law enforcement
officer at the time of the alleged assault, an enhanced penalty applies which
provides for a maximum sentence of up to 2 to 5 years in state prison and a
$4,000 fine.
The indictment alleges that on
Nov. 11, 2009, Richardson "did knowingly cause unprivileged physical
contact to Michael Bergeron Jr. by slamming his head into a concrete wall..."
An arraignment will be scheduled for Richardson in Rockingham County Superior
Court.
A charge of simple assault
against Seabrook Police Officer Adam Laurent was also presented to the grand
jury, but after considering the testimony and evidence presented, the grand
jury did not indict him. Therefore, Laurent will not face a criminal charge for
his use of pepper spray against Bergeron on Nov. 11, 2009.
Richardson, Laurent and a third
Seabrook Police officer were placed on paid administrative leave by the Town of
Seabrook in January after a video surfaced on YouTube showing them walking
Bergeron down the Seabrook Police Department jail cell corridor following his
arrest for drunken driving. The officers were shown slamming Bergeron head
first into a wall.