Brockton Cops Illegally Entered Cape Verdean Family’s Home, Used Excessive Force in Arrests, US Court Finds

Brockton, Mass. - A judge has ruled that members of the Brockton Police Department illegally entered the home of a Cape Verdean family in 2008, and used excessive force while arresting family members.

Officers Thomas Hyland and Brian Donahue were found liable of illegally entering the Barbosa family home on November 15, 2008, following a noise complaint to police.

Officers Hyland, Jesse Drane, Steven Johnson, and Frank Baez were also found liable of using excessive force while arresting members of the family.

The Barbosa family – the mother and father, Henriqueta and Manuel, and their daughters, Angela and Maria – filed a civil lawsuit in federal court in Boston in 2011, which concluded last week when Magistrate Judge Judith Dein issued a judgment; a trial was also held last July.

Open Media Boston reported the main arguments made by both sides at the beginning of the trial, and Judge Dein ruled on the facts of the case in the beginning of December.

According to the court’s findings, Officers Hyland and Donahue responded to a noise complaint at the Barbosa home, and without invitation or warrant, illegally entered the premises to shut off music coming from within.

The Barbosa family was having a traditional Cape Verdean celebration following the birth of child, called a Nota Sete, and a small gathering of about 15 family and friends was in the house, including a number of children.

The court finds that, “The officers did not go to the front door of the house, and did not ring the front door bell or knock on the door.”

The music was shut off after the police entered the home, however, the officers stayed inside the house in an attempt to break up the party, causing tension amongst the gathering as a result.

“The police conduct in failing to leave and engaging in confrontation with the few remaining adults is even more unacceptable given the undisputed fact that the music had stopped, and there was no disruption of the neighborhood’s peace and quiet, except, perhaps, the disruption caused by the fact that six additional police cruisers had been sent to break up a small family party,” the court finds.

When the father of the newborn baby and partner of Angela Barbosa, John Andrade, refused to leave the house, he was arrested by Officer Hyland.

During the arrest, Officer Hyland claimed to have been assaulted by Henriqueta Barbosa with a dish strainer, though the court finds that this is not “credible that Henriqueta, who is approximately 5 feet tall, hit Officer Hyland, who is over 6 feet tall, in the head with the strainer.”

The court also finds, “as true the testimony of Henriqueta and her daughters that Officer Hyland treated Henriqueta roughly and that she banged her shoulder on a door or wall after being ‘spun around,’ handcuffed and slammed against a wall … while Henriqueta was yelling, she did not engage in any physical altercation with Officer Hyland and her conduct did not warrant her being treated roughly or slammed against a wall.”

Following Henriqueta’s arrest, and the use of excessive force in her arrest, Henriqueta’s daughter Angela also was then arrested.

Though it was claimed by police that Angela Barbosa – who was recovering from a C-section at the time – threw a cellphone at police, the court finds “that Angela did not throw the phone at Officer Hyland …”

The court also finds “that Officer Drane used excessive force in arresting Angela … that he heard (probably from her) that she had recently been released from the hospital after having undergone a C-section, yet he took no steps to limit his physical handling of her during her arrest … that Officer Drane did grab her by the hair and slam her either against a chair or to the floor, where she was handcuffed … that she was treated very roughly, being pushed and shoved outside into the police cruiser.”

Angela’s sister Maria was then subsequently arrested at Brockton Police Department’s headquarters by Officers Steven Johnson and Frank Baez, after she went to the station to bail out those arrested.

According to the findings, it was “most likely that while Officer Johnson was giving his explanation of how long it would take” to process those arrested – about 30 minutes per person – “Maria understood that it would take 30 minutes in total, not 30 minutes per person, and she decided to wait.

“For his part, Officer Johnson understood that it could take several hours, and did not understand why Maria was not leaving.

Consequently, Officer Johnson was encouraging Maria to leave and she did not want to … a verbal altercation ensued, with both sides using inappropriate language,” the findings continue.

The court says, “That if she had been allowed to leave the building, Maria would have left,” but she only “made it through the first glass doors into the vestibule when Officer Johnson decided to arrest her.”

It finds that, “Things deteriorated rapidly from there,” and “that Officers Johnson and Baez grabbed Maria from the vestibule and slammed her down, face first, onto the wooden bench.

One of them pressed on her back while cuffing her hands behind her back.” As a result of the arrest, “Maria suffered cuts and abrasions around her right eye, on her right eyelid and on her forehead. 

She also had a black eye.” Although there was a videotape of the entire incident surrounding Maria Barbosa’s arrest, it was subsequently taped over making unavailable for use in the trial, however, the footage was allegedly previously reviewed following a complaint to the police’s Internal Affairs Department (IAD).

The court finds that, though IAD “allegedly reviewed the tape before responding to Maria’s complaint denying any wrongdoing, no steps were taken by the police to save the tape,” which forced, “her to defend herself against the officers’ version of her arrest without the benefit of a critical piece of evidence.”

As a result of the trauma experienced by members of the Barbosa family during the incident, they continue to suffer from a number of medical and psychological issues. The plaintiffs were awarded damages amounting to $60,000, plus interest, and attorney’s costs and fees by the court.

The court dismissed the plaintiffs' additional claims against Captain Leon McCabe and Captain Emanuel Gomes, the latter of whom just stepped down as interim Chief of Brockton Police Department.

Allegations that the officers named in the case inflicted intentional emotional distress on the Barbosa family were also dismissed, as were the plaintiffs’ allegations of deliberate indifference by the police to the medical needs of those arrested.

Open Media Boston made multiple requests to the Brockton Police Department and the Brockton City Mayor’s office for a press statement, but those enquiries went unanswered.

Open Media Boston also contacted both the Barbosa family and their legal counsel, but neither could be reached for comment before the filing of this report.