Grim footage of 72-year-old being punched repeatedly by off-duty police officer
Video footage shows a police officer pummelling a 72-year-old man on the ground after the senior accidentally hit the cop's car with a paddle board.
Neighbours caught the incident on camera, with the video showing victim Harry Horsley on the ground with Officer Scott Saunders, 36, on top of him, hitting him in the face repeatedly in Boston. Massachussetts. Then the officer eventually gets up and allows the older man to get up. The senior is red-faced when he stands up and starts walking back to the driver's side of the vehicle when the officer is shown pushing him down again.
The officer has been placed on leave. Horsley told police he was driving on the narrow Furnace Colony Drive in Pembroke when Saunders struck his car with a paddleboard, so he pulled over and got out of the vehicle, WCVB reported.
“Why did you hit my car? That’s all I said,” Horsley told Boston 25. “He bull-rushed me down to the ground, and landed on top of me, I’m on my back. He pounded away. I’m like this trying to protect myself from getting hit worse.”
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Harry Horsley, 72, was assaulted by his neighbour Scott Saunders who is a police officer for the Hull Police Department (Boston 25 News WS)The 18-year police veteran Saunders told officers that it was the senior man who started the fight, even though the video showed the officer on top of him in a mount position. He said that Horsley punched him in the face and that he pushed him away after that.
According to Boston 25 News, the police report they obtained stated: “Saunders’ back is to the camera and (the neighbour’s) hands are not visible at this time then Saunders pushes (the neighbour) with both hands to his chest area causing him to fall backwards onto the ground,” police wrote in their report. “Saunders proceeds forward following (the neighbour) to the mount and straddling his body.”
The alleged attacker, Saunders, is an 18-year police force vet, and is currently on leave after being captured on camera, allegedly battering an elderly man - he's pictured in the center (Hull Police Department / Facebook)“As Saunders is on top of (the neighbour) Saunders Is seen throwing one punch to the face area for (the neighbour) before standing and walking away from the area toward his residence." Police wrote that when the two men were face-to-face, they could not see the victim’s hands in the video.
Horsley suffered cuts and swelling to the face after being attacked by the officer, who was charged with assault and battery on a person over 60. Saunders is due back in court in September. The police report said the injuries included a cut to the left side of Horsley's face, a bloody nose, swelling and bruising around an eye, and other injuries.
A fight between two neighbours turns heinous on a narrow road after a car was 'hit' by a paddleboard (Boston 25 News WS)“Here I am, 72 years old, I shouldn’t be taking a punch from anybody, let alone a police sergeant,” Horsley told Boston 25 News. “He should have known that everything he has done was wrong. You don’t assault somebody that’s a senior. You just don’t do it – it’s unheard of.”
The Hull Police Department has launched an internal affairs investigation. They also notified the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission.
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