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February 21, 2007

Jury gets East Providence police brutality case

PROVIDENCE — It’s clear East Providence resident Edward Vieira fractured his nose in two places on February 4, 2005.

It’s up to a Superior Court jury to decide whether the injury occurred while resisting arrest at his Mauran Avenue apartment or later that night when Patrolman Jason Francis, a Glocester resident, allegedly kicked Vieira in the face while handcuffed in police headquarters.

Closing arguments with both versions was given this morning and the jury began deliberating this afternoon after Judge Netti C. Vogel gave them their charges. Francis faces three charges – felony assault with a dangerous weapon, a shod foot, with serious bodily injury resulting, and two misdemeanors. The misdemeanors are simple assault and writing a false police report.

An officer since 2000, 29-year-old Francis has been suspended without pay for most of the last two years.

-- Journal staff writer Alisha A. Pina

Posted by Steve Peoples  at 3:52 PM | Permalink

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