Deputy sued for courthouse assault

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - An internal hearing by the Rhode Island Sheriff’s Department has begun to investigate an alleged assault by a deputy inside The Garrahy Judicial Complex in Providence.

Nicholas Alahverdian claims he was ‘struck twice, had his arms twisted and was shoved against the wall’ by an unnamed deputy.

“I did not provoke him in any way,” Alahverdian said.

Alahverdian, who filed a civil lawsuit on his own behalf, said there were two separate confrontations with the deputy in 2011, one in February and one in March.

He said the first one happened after he tried to enter a courtroom to talk with a clerk.

According to the lawsuit, Alahverdian was ‘screamed at by the deputy in the hallway, who was also swearing and acting in a volatile manner’.

Alahverdian recorded a brief segment of that first incident on his cell phone, prompting the officer to demand that he give him the device.

“You can’t confiscate my phone,” Alahverdian is heard saying on the short clip. “Yes I can,” the officer replies. “No you can’t,” Alahverdian argues during an apparent struggle. “Watch,” the officer yells right before the recording ends.

“He then threatened to assault me in the elevator if I didn’t give him the phone,” Alahverdian said.

‘A few weeks later’, Alahverdian returned to court and was confronted again by the deputy who again demanded to see his phone. That is when he claims he was assaulted.

“Plaintiff was struck twice,” Alahverdian wrote in his lawsuit. “Plaintiff had his arms twisted. Plaintiff was violently shoved against the wall.”

Alahverdian said the incident was witnessed by several people including Paul Labonte who told Target 12 he testified during the Sheriff’s Department internal hearing.

“I saw the officer’s elbow and forearm pull back and then quickly thrust forward causing him (Alahverdian) to cry out,” Labonte told Target 12.

Alahverdian said he has not been contacted by the Sheriff’s Department but is relieved an internal hearing is underway.

“He did not act professionally,” Alahverdian said. “To further the goal of the Sheriff's department, to keep people safe.”

A Sheriff’s Department official said the internal hearing will continue but he did not know when.

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