A Rhode Island cop ordered to serve 10 years in prison in 2014 after he was convicted of second-degree child abuse for choking his 9-year-old sister and dragging her by her hair was convicted again earlier this month for assaulting another child.
Woonsocket police officer Patrick Cahill, 28, was suspended from the Woonsocket Police Department, but has not been fired since the incident in 2012 after his sentence was stayed and remains currently under appeal in the Supreme Court.
Since his 2014 conviction, a judge has allowed officer Cahill to remain free while he appeals.
But Cahill was arrested again on March 27 for punching a 16-year-old student in the face, bloodying his nose and putting him in the headlock during a weight-training session at Woonsocket High School where he volunteers with the football team.
Patrick Cahill was found guilty by a judge for assaulting another child after he was suspended from his department for a separate child abuse charge in 2012 involving his 9-year-old sister.
Superior Court Judge Daniel Procaccini found Cahill guilty of simple assault on April 7 after he pleaded no contest to the charges, found him guilty of violating his bail, and sentenced him to 40 days retroactive to March 27, the date of his arrest.
Procaccini ordered Cahill take anger management and to have no contact with the victim.
According to a police report, a school resource officer reported to police he was approached by a student bleeding from his nose and crying on March 27.
The student said he’d been punched and put in a headlock, gesturing at Cahill, explaining that’s when the volunteer coach took him to the ground and put him in a headlock.
Police stated eyewitness account corroborated the kid’s account and were consistent with his verbal and written statements.
Cahill claimed the student became argumentative, refused to leave and “got in his face” after the student became disruptive and he asked him to leave.
According to the report, that’s when things got physical and, Cahill said, that’s when he was forced to bring the student to the ground and sock him in the nose twice.
The Woonsocket Police Department has declined to comment on either arrest citing the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights, known by cops as LEOBR or LEOBoR.
In Rhode Island, police officers can be convicted of felonies in civilian criminal courts and still keep their job after a hearing before fellow police officers.
The LEOBR also prevents civilian review boards, which give civilians oversight over police actions.
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