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CRANSTON, RI (WLNE) – The trial has begun for a Cranston police officer charged with one count of simple assault for his actions following an arrest last year.
Andrew Leonard pleaded not guilty to the charge last September.
The bench trial, before Magistrate Judge J. Patrick O’Neill, held at Kent County Superior Court, following an investigation by the Rhode Island State Police into a use of force incident from March of 2020. Cranston Chief of Police Michael Winquist requested the investigation.
Leonard arrested 27-year-old Gian Mattiello following a domestic dispute where Mattiello got into a fight with his brother and father. Mattiello claims the officer broke two of his iPhone screens during the arrest, and that’s where things escalated.