Mass. Civil Rights Act

Lawrence officers beat Mr. Figueroa without justification. Officers booked Mr. Figueroa, then ordered that he strip naked and placed him naked in a small lockup cell with a clothed male prisoner. They wanted to teach Mr. Figueroa a lesson: Don’t disrespect police officers. The City of Lawrence had a policy or custom of placing arrestees naked in a cell with another prisoner when a police officer claimed the arrestee was having suicidal thoughts. This unreasonable and easily abused policy permitted officers to degrade and intimidate Mr. Figueroa by falsely claiming he was suicidal.

On March 16, 2006, Somerville officer Freitas, who was off-duty and had been drinking, confronted Gerard Contaldi (15) and his friends about kicking a recycling bin near Freitas’s sports car. Freitas called Gerard an idiot and slapped him. One of Gerard’s friends pushed Freitas, then the boys ran away. Officers stopped Gerard, threw him to the ground, and cuffed him. An officer pressed Gerard’s face in the gravel. Freitas hit Gerard in the eye with a flashlight.