PROVIDENCE (AP) – Prosecutors in Rhode Island will not file criminal charges against a Providence police officer involved in a moped crash last year that left a 24-year-old man in a coma and sparked two nights of protests that occasionally turned violent in the state capital.
R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Neronha said Thursday that state investigators determined the officer did not directly strike Jhamal Gonsalves, who is Black, or his moped on Oct. 18, as witnesses have said.
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Neronha said his staff also determined the officer involved wasn’t acting recklessly prior to the crash.
“This is not a reckless driving case,” he said. “Is it a tragic case? Yes. Might it be negligence? Yes.”
Gonsalves’ family met with Neronha’s office prior to Thursday’s announcement and said they would comment later.
Gonsalves had been among hundreds of people riding dirt bikes, ATVs and other street-illegal vehicles through the city on Oct. 18.
Neronha and other law enforcement officials said Thursday that video evidence and their accident reconstruction analysis shows the police cruiser struck a stop sign, which then struck Gonsalves on the head while he was on his moped.
“The events of October 18 had enormously tragic consequences. Mr. Gonsalves’ prognosis remains uncertain, and our thoughts are with him and his family. It is this Office’s responsibility to examine all the facts, fairly and objectively, and determine if there is a basis for a criminal charge,” said Neronha in a statement Thursday. “When it comes to driving offenses, the criminal bar is high. Finding fault with one’s driving, as happens hundreds of times a year in Rhode Island, might be sufficient to find civil liability yet, in the words of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, may still fall ‘far short’ of what is required to establish criminal recklessness.”
Previously released videos show an officer pulling Gonsalves away from the moped and checking for a pulse. An officer also administers the opioid reversal drug naloxone, mistakenly thinking Gonsalves was overdosing.
Gonsalves spent two months in coma and is recovering in a rehabilitation facility, his family has said.
The officer involved was placed on administrative duty during the investigation.
