The city of Providence achieved a small victory on Wednesday in its five-year-long quest to fire Joseph Hanley, a Providence Police Department sergeant who was originally suspended in 2020. The initial suspension followed abusive conduct during an arrest that some called an act of police brutality.
Hanley was first suspended after body camera footage showed him assaulting a handcuffed suspect, Rishod Gore, a then-28-year-old Black man. The footage, as well as Gore’s testimony in Hanley’s first trial, revealed that Hanley punched and kicked Gore in the face, knelt on his neck and stood on his legs, The Herald previously reported.
Gore was arrested after pointing his phone at several officers, including Hanley, and saying something the officers interpreted as a threat. During testimony at Hanley’s criminal trial in 2021, a detective who responded at the scene recalled that Gore said, “watch what happens to you.” Charges against Gore for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest were ultimately dropped in August 2020.
A hearing committee had moved to suspend and reinstate Hanley — an action originally preferred by the city of Providence — rather than terminate the sergeant. The city is now appealing that decision in the state’s Superior Court.
On Wednesday, a justice in the state’s Superior Court granted the city of Providence’s motion to put Hanley on unpaid suspension, while the Court decides on the city’s appeal.
After the incident first occurred in April 2020, Providence had moved to suspend Hanley for 45 days, according to court documents. The city changed course after the murder of George Floyd that summer — which saw increased scrutiny of police brutality against Black and brown communities — and sought to terminate and bring criminal charges against Hanley, according to June 2025 documents from a law enforcement hearing committee.
In Sept. 2020, the Providence External Review Authority found that Hanley’s actions were in clear violation of Use of Force practices, which dictate that the use of physical force “must stop when the need for the force ceases.” PERA lacks any direct enforcement capabilities and relies on city agencies to carry out its recommendations.
Hanley’s first trial, which took place in early 2021, ended with a conviction on a single count of simple assault and battery in R.I. District Court, according to Timothy Rondeau, a spokesperson for the office of R.I. Attorney General Peter Neronha P’19 P’22.
Hanley then appealed the case to the Superior Court. The case was tried from scratch but resulted in a mistrial after the jury remained deadlocked.
As the attorney general prepared to try Hanley for a third time, a Superior Court justice offered Hanley one year of probation in exchange for a plea of no contest, Rondeau told The Herald.
Once the criminal case against Hanley was settled, the city moved to terminate the sergeant. Since the incident in April 2020, the PPD’s Office of Professional Responsibility had “conducted a thorough investigation, including a review of all evidence and statements related to the case,” wrote Anthony Vega, press secretary for the city, in an email to The Herald.
The PPD then issued Hanley a written notice of its intent to terminate him.
Under Rhode Island’s Law Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights, Hanley was entitled to have the city’s disciplinary proposal evaluated by a hearing committee that consisted of three members from a pool of active and retired officers.
But some, including PERA Executive Director Ferenc Karoly, argue that the law’s protections for officers are redundant, “given that officers already can dispute any discipline they receive through a grievance process and Superior Court appeal,” he wrote in an email to The Herald.
Even post-reform, the law “continues to make it too difficult for police departments to discipline officers who engage in misconduct,” wrote Steven Brown, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union Rhode Island, in an email to The Herald.
In June of this year, the Law Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights committee rejected the city’s termination proposal by a vote of 2-1 and instead implemented a 45-day suspension, which would conclude on Sept. 2. The committee wrote that “unblemished and exemplary record of service” and that “this case arises from a single incident, not from repeated infractions.”
In his dissent, Deputy Chief of Police Timothy O’Hara argued for a stronger punishment, writing “that there is much precedent, both in Rhode Island and nationwide, for the termination of police officers who assault handcuffed, restrained or in-custody arrestees or detainees.”
Colonel Oscar Perez, Jr., chief of police at PPD, said the decision was unfortunate in a statement sent to The Herald.
“When we can’t hold officers accountable, we put our community at risk, and we lose the trust that we as a department work very hard to build,” Perez said.
Providence later appealed the decision to the R.I. Superior Court in July, citing R.I. laws permitting judicial judgment on Law Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights decisions. The city then filed the motion to keep Hanley on unpaid suspension until a ruling on the initial appeal was made, which was granted on Wednesday.
Hanley and the city have also remained engaged in a dispute over payments since Hanley returned to work on Sept. 3. The Wednesday ruling on the motion to stay allows Providence to keep Hanley on unpaid suspension until the original appeal receives a decision. The expected decision date is not currently clear.
Lev Kotler-Berkowitz is a senior staff writer covering city and state politics. He is from the Boston area and is a junior concentrating in Political Science and Economics. In his free time, Lev can be found playing baseball or running around with his dog.
