Now controversial surveillance photos you’ll see on just one station: An outraged Brockton man says local police roughed him up and then lied about it. And now he’s taking them to federal court. Hank’s the first to reveal the photos from the confrontation that was caught on camera.
These are surveillance pictures from inside the Save-A-Lot grocery in Brockton.
What people inside didn’t know–Brockton police had just received a 911 call–reporting a man with a gun walking toward the store.
911 caller: “And he’s got a gun in his back pocket, so I don’t know what’s up with that.”
911 Operator: What’s he look like?
Caller: He’s black, he has a red shirt on, and like tan pants.
Brockton Police arrived within minutes–that’s one officer coming in the door. But what’s about to happen –is now the focus of a lawsuit.
Watch: the man police confront in the red shirt and black pants is Bill Ceneus, a 10 year employee of Save-a-lot.
You can see one officer wraps his arms around Ceneus, lifts him up, and within seconds, he’s on the floor.
Ceneus is handcuffed and searched by three officers. No weapon is found. So where’s the guy the 911 caller saw with a gun? While Ceneus sits in handcuffs, another store camera shows police confronting a different store employee–wearing a red shirt and tan pants. He’s in the produce section –and as he shows them, he has a pricing gun. The police report says that’s what “was mistaken for a firearm.”
But Bill Ceneus says the police made a mistake too–and that’s why he’s suing.
Bill Ceneus, Plaintiff: “You don’t pick a person up and slam them to the ground.”
Ceneus told me arrived for his shift-and he had no gun. He says the officer came up to him and said: hey you.
Hank: “Did the officer ask you if you had a gun?
Bill Ceneus: “No”
Hank: “Did he ask you what you were doing there?
Bill Ceneus: “No”
Within seconds, Ceneus says, he was body-slammed.
Ceneus: “He grabbed me and threw me in the air and slammed me down to the floor and I’m like, what are you doing this for? That’s all I said, what are you doing this for, what did I do?”
Ceneus remembers being face down, pinned to the floor by police officers.
Bill: “They were all on top of me, throwing their elbows throwing their knees jabbing me–What did I do, that’s all I said, what did I do?”
Ceneus says he was terrified and in such severe pain he went to the hospital. His lawyer now says these officers not only used unreasonable force-but lied on their report to cover it up.
Hank: “When you look at the police report and compare it to the video, what do you see?”
Atty. Howard Friedman, Plaintiffs’ Attorney: “Two different stories.”
Look: The police report says Ceneus was wearing “light colored jeans.”
It says he “pulled away…and began shouting and attempting to flee.”
Then the report says the officer picked Bill up as he “guided, supported, and directed him to the ground.”
This man, the store manager, witnessed the whole thing.
Hank: “Did he yell or try to get away or wave his arms or try to resist?”
Jack Mc Grath, Store manager: “No.”
Hank: “Not at all?”
Jack McGrath: “Not at all.”
Hank: “The police report says he pulled away and began shouting and attempting to flee.”
Jack McGrath: “Well, that’s inaccurate.”
We wanted to talk to Brockton Police to get their side of this story. But we called them and the city’s legal department every day for the last week – more than a dozen times – and never got a response.