A jury sides with a controversial Providence police officer accused of assaulting Boston men

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Providence police officer Matthew Sheridan, repeatedly accused of beating suspects, won a victory Friday when a jury ruled he did not violate the civil rights of two Boston men during their 2016 arrest.

The decision ended a five-day trial that examined whether Officer Matthew Sheridan used excessive force in attacking two men, Abel Sanchez and Nelson Santiago, outside a Providence nightclub in November 2016.

Sheridan declined to comment on the verdict in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island. His lawyer, Michael Colucci, said: “We’re glad it’s over and done with.”

Sanchez and Santiago also declined to comment. Their lawyer, Albert Medici, said they were disappointed but “the jury spoke and I respect their decision.”

“Of course they are upset,” he said. “But they can close this chapter in their lives and move on.”

Sanchez and Santiago unsuccessfully argued in court that Sheridan brutalized them after visiting a Providence nightclub to celebrate a friend’s birthday in November 2016.

The men said that outside the club, Sheridan approached their rented BMW and they argued over who would sit in the front seat on the return trip to Boston.

Testimony and reports indicate that Sheridan tried to push Sanchez into the backseat before words were exchanged and the officer wrestled Sanchez to the ground. Court records show Santiago exited the car and was also knocked to the ground. Other officers got involved and the men were arrested.

Photos and medical records show scratches and cuts to the right side of Sanchez’s face where he was pushed onto the parking lot’s pavement. Sanchez also said he later had to wear a sling due to a shoulder injury. Santiago was treated in hospital for a broken ankle.

Criminal charges against the men were ultimately dismissed by the District Court in Providence, and Sanchez and Santiago subsequently filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Sheridan and Providence. (Provider was later dismissed from the case.) The men sought a combined $2.3 million in damages.

When the foreman announced the verdict, one of the jurors cried openly and shook her head.

Sheridan’s attorney, Michael Colucci, convinced the jury that Sheridan followed police protocol the night the men were arrested and that his use of force was justified given the circumstances.

He downplayed the men’s injuries, saying abrasions to Sanchez’s face were common among people detained on the ground and that it was not clear — either to Santiago or in the medical records — how Santiago’s ankle was broken.

Colucci also accused Sanchez of lying about various aspects of the case and said Santiago “condoned Sanchez’s lies and deception.”

Medici argued unsuccessfully that there was no reason for Sheridan to engage with the men that night. He also said that someone who does not break the law should not reasonably expect to be beaten by a police officer and end up in jail or hospital.

“The guy has a hair trigger,” Medici said during closing arguments. “If you don’t do what he says when he says it, he attacks.”

“Being sued means nothing”

Beyond the incident with Sanchez and Santiago, the trial highlighted a part of Sheridan’s professional history that is riddled with allegations of excessive use of force.

Court records show the officer has been a defendant in four federal civil rights lawsuits since 2017.

Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell allowed the jury to review evidence from the earlier case after Sheridan took the stand and said, “I don’t attack people.”

Jurors saw a 2015 video from a Providence nightclub that showed Sheridan leading away partygoers who remained there after closing time.

The video shows a man, later identified as Esmelin Fajardo, apparently refusing to leave. His resistance prompted Sheridan to grab him and violently throw him to the ground. The officer then struck the man multiple times before moving away and pepper spraying Fejardo several times.

The video shows Fajardo falling backwards and cowering before Sheridan stepped forward, stepped back and punched him.

(Story continues below video)

“I just thought I was going to die at that point,” Fajardo told Target 12 in 2018, adding that he was simply trying to tell Sheridan he worked at a nightclub. “I thought I was going to lose my life.”

Colucci disputed the video Thursday, showing the jury the slow-motion footage and arguing that Sheridan only pushed Fajardo because he feared the man was making a fist and was going to attack him. On the stand, Sheridan admitted that he only later learned that Fajardo was missing fingers on one hand.

Colucci also said Sheridan struck Fajardo with open fists in accordance with police regulations because he was trying to apprehend and arrest Fajardo, who was kicking Sheridan after he was knocked down.

“I was trying to grab the suspect to gain control and make an arrest,” Sheridan said Thursday.

Fajardo filed his own civil rights lawsuit against Sheridan and the city in 2018. The case went to trial last March and was settled for $16,000 in August.

In 2017, Charm Howie filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Sheridan. Howie, who attended the Providence Police Academy with Sheridan, accused the officer of verbally abusing him outside his home, forcing him into a car and choking him.

At the time, Howie’s lawyer criticized Sheridan and his night crew of white officers patrolling South Providence, calling them a “third-shift terrorist unit.”

“They’re terrorizing the city,” Howie, a black man, told the Associated Press at the time. All of the men who filed civil rights lawsuits against Sheridan are men of color.

Howie’s case was scheduled to go to trial in November 2023, but a settlement was ultimately reached for $42,500.

In 2019, Christopher Johnson filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Sheridan, accusing the officer of unlawfully detaining him in 2016 as he returned home to South Providence after going out with friends.

“Johnson went out to listen to music with friends, not expecting to spend the night in jail,” his lawyer wrote in the complaint.

Johnson, who was a Rhode Island State Poet Laureate finalist at the time, said Sheridan asked his name for no reason. And when he refused to hand it over, Sheridan grabbed his arm and threw it against the police car so hard that it “dented the rear passenger door,” according to court documents.

Johnson was arrested and charged with simple assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. A year later, the charges were dismissed “due to lack of evidence,” according to court records.

The next hearing in Johnson’s civil rights case is scheduled for next month.

Colucci on Friday downplayed Sheridan’s record, citing civil rights lawsuits. He said the settlements were “nuisance settlements,” meaning they were “financially modest.”

“Being sued doesn’t mean anything,” Colucci said. “Three of the four have been removed, and we have one more to go.”