Grand jury indicts ex-cop on excessive force charge

Video recorded arrest in New Castle incident

A federal grand jury has indicted a former New Castle police officer on an excessive force charge in relation to an incident in April 2018 recorded on video.

Ronald Williams, 40, a 10-year veteran who was fired in May 2018, appeared briefly in U.S. District Court on Friday to answer to the charge.

Mr. Williams, now a truck driver, was indicted Thursday under seal on one count of deprivation of civil rights.

The case was unsealed after his court appearance. He entered a standard not guilty plea and was released on a $10,000 bond.

Mr. Williams is accused of using excessive force against Perry Lawry, 49, of Slippery Rock, during a call for a domestic fight. The incident was recorded on a cellphone.

He was initially placed on administrative leave the day after the incident and the video was posted on Facebook. It showed him repeatedly slamming Mr. Lawry’s head into the floor before handcuffing him during an arrest.

Mr. Williams’ lawyer, Stephen Colafella, said after the court hearing Friday that his client was responding to a call for help during the domestic fight. He said his client looks forward to defending himself in court and has “taken a beating” in his community and online over the video.

“I understand the shock value of the video,” Mr. Colafella said.

But he said the recording and the indictment do not cover what

precipitated the incident in the video or what happened afterward. He said Mr. Lawry was drunk and violent, fought with officers, and lunged for a counter with knives on it.

“All we really have is the video,” said Mr. Colafella. “There’s a lot [more] to it. We’re not hiding from anything.”

In 2018 Mr. Lawry sued Mr. Williams, the city of New Castle and a second officer involved in the fight in federal court on claims of excessive force and false arrest.

The case was settled, Mr. Colafella said, but he didn’t know the terms.

Mr. Lawry’s lawyer in the suit, Al Lindsay, was in Harrisburg Friday and also said the case was settled, but he did not recall the amount. The New Castle solicitor did not return a message.

Mr. Lindsay, a former federal prosecutor, said he welcomed the indictment.

“I’m gratified that the U.S. attorney’s office is interested in police violence,” he said.

At the time of Mr. Lawry’s arrest, police said his girlfriend told them that her boyfriend came home drunk and started fighting with her and her son, a juvenile. The boy told police that he was washing dishes in the kitchen when Mr. Lawry made a comment “about him actually doing dishes.”

Mr. Lawry then grabbed the boy by the throat and started choking him, a police affidavit said. The boy told police he punched Mr. Lawry several times until he let go.

Mr. Colafella said the boy actually knocked Mr. Lawry out, but that he recovered and kept fighting.

An officer, Peter Mendicino, arrived, followed by Mr. Williams. The boy recorded some of the incident on his cellphone, which police confiscated. The video showed Mr. Williams smashing Mr. Lawry’s face into the floor several times, appearing to grab him by the hair. After several blows, Mr. Lawry stops moving.

Mr. Williams said that he saw his colleague wrestling with Mr. Lawry, who ran toward a countertop with two knives, according to an affidavit Mr. Williams wrote.

He said he used his Taser three times on Mr. Lawry to no effect, and Mr. Lawry continued to resist, refusing to be handcuffed and crawling toward the counter with the knives.

“I did grab the male by the back of his shoulder’s [sic] and gave him three thrusts shoving his chest and head into the floor until he stop [sic] resisting and handcuffs could be placed on the male,” Mr. Williams wrote in the affidavit.

In his lawsuit, Mr. Lawry claimed that he did not go for a knife.

Mr. Williams said nothing in court Friday except to plead not guilty and tell a prosecutor about his trucking route to establish how far he is allowed to travel while out on bond.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Pupo Lenihan also ordered that 35 guns be removed from his possession.

“I understand you have quite the gun collection,” she said.