By Doug Ireland
direland@eagletribune.com
BRENTWOOD — A former Salem
police officer has been indicted on charges he assaulted a Maine man following
a police pursuit in October.
Joseph Freda, 33, of Salem was
indicted on two simple assault charges by a Rockingham Superior Court grand
jury earlier this week. He could face two to five years in prison on each
charge.
Freda is charged with beating
Thomas Templeton, 39, of York with a flashlight, causing two lacerations to his
head.
Freda, a member of the Salem
Police Department since 2012, is also charged with stepping on Templeton’s
fingers while he was handcuffed on the ground, according to the indictments.
He was terminated from his job
in January because Town Manager Keith Hickey said the town has a no-tolerance
policy for excessive use of force.
The alleged assaults occurred
after a police pursuit that began at about 2 a.m. on Oct. 6. State and local
police followed the Jeep Cherokee driven by Freda on Interstate 93 south,
reporting the vehicle traveling about 90 mph to 100 mph.
The Jeep got off the highway at
Exit 1 in Salem and sped down Veterans Memorial Parkway, according to a report.
The pursuit ended a short time later when the Jeep pulled into Salem Nissan on
Main Street and Templeton fled the vehicle. He was found hiding in brush there.
Freda reportedly told fellow
officers he “whipped” Templeton with the flashlight and “whacked” him in the
groin.
The Attorney General’s Office
announced Freda’s arrest Jan. 15 following its own probe and an internal
investigation by Salem police.
Freda was placed on paid
administrative leave in October and then put on unpaid leave three months later
after Salem police concluded their investigation. he was fired that same month.
He was turned himself in on a
warrant in January and was released on $2,500 personal recognizance.
Although simple assault is a
misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail for each charge, Freda faces
enhanced penalties of two to five years if convicted because he was an on-duty
police officer.
Freda is a Salem High School
graduate who served in the U.S. Marine Corps before becoming a police officer.
He previously worked for the Brookline (N.H.) Police Department.
Freda is to be arraigned in
Superior Court on April 24.