Cranston police officer says he punched prisoner believing he'd grabbed equipment off his duty belt

Keep me motivated by donating to https://paypal.me/thisisbutter

Viewer discretion is always advised when watching this video or any others videos. I do not take any responsibility to your trauma, psychological and/or mental harm.

I do not recommend anyone to attempt, act/reproduce, and/or create hate from what you see in this video or any other videos.

Enjoy.
--------------------
In a secure area of the Cranston Police Department, Officer Andrew Leonard noticed something about a prisoner:

The young man's nostrils were flaring.

The man, Gian Mattiello, had quickly turned toward Leonard as another officer tried to remove a tie from Mattiello's long hair. Then, Mattiello had moved his forearm in a way that broke Leonard's grip on his right arm.

This was the testimony that Leonard gave Wednesday in District Court, where he is on trial, accused of assaulting Mattiello in an excessive use of force in March of 2020.

Leonard took the stand after prosecutors rested their case. His appearance followed testimony from Mattiello, who accused the officer of ambushing him. And it trailed testimony from a Cranston police captain who said he was troubled by surveillance video of what had transpired in the booking area — where Leonard's presence wasn't even necessary in the first place.

But Leonard testified that he was needed, given Matiello's disposition. And the prisoner's flaring nostrils were among various "pre-indicators of a pending assault."

"In that moment," he said, "a lot of flags went off in my head that it was an imminent assault coming."

Leonard also testified that just before Mattiello had whirled, the prisoner had reacted to Officer Zachary Burns' effort to remove his hair tie by yelling "Don't [expletive] touch me."

Responding to questions from his lawyer, Joseph Monahan, Leonard testified that he delivered a blow to Mattiello's abdomen, aiming to stun and distract him.

Then, he took Mattiello to the ground.

"It didn't go well," said Leonard, a Coventry resident who told his lawyer that he has about 24 years of experience in law enforcement, including about 12 years at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston.

Leonard testified that he had expected two other officers in the room to help him control Mattiello. Instead, he said, Mattiello mustered enough leverage to stand up twice.

"Nothing happened," he said. "I might as well have been alone in the cell block."

At one point, amid the clash, he said that he felt Mattiello grabbing his duty belt, which carried his pepper spray and his flashlight. He said he could feel Mattiello's hand on the light.

He pointed out clips of video that showed these sequences. To the naked eye, across the courtroom, it wasn't easy to verify the action on the video screen.