As critics of the Providence police again try to establish a civilian board to investigate charges of police misconduct, an Armory District couple claims they were recent victims of a police assault.

On October 10, the Providence City Council's Ordinance Committee will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. at City Hall on the proposed Providence External Review Authority (PERA), a 20-member panel that would hear complaints and issue non-binding recommendations to the chief regarding police discipline.

In June, the council passed the ordinance, but then-Mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci Jr. vetoed it. Cianci's departure from office, however, has raised new hopes that the proposal will become law. As council president, Acting Mayor John J. Lombardi was a supporter of the proposal, and the likely next mayor, state Representative David N. Cicilline, backs the idea and helped Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) to draft the proposal.

PERA's supporters say the current complaint process, in which police officers above the rank of sergeant serve as hearing officers, is rigged and ineffective. Police Chief Richard T. Sullivan, however, says PERA will be too costly and is unnecessary since complaints have drastically declined. In 1999, 114 complaints were filed, Sullivan reports, but only 23 have been filed in 2002.

DARE community organizer Mary Kay Harris, though, says she has heard about "more complaints than ever." Earlier this month, she listened to the story of Wood Street residents Jeff Knoch (pronounced "Ken-oak") and his girlfriend, Ulanda Denosky-Smart.

On September 4, Knoch says, he called the police at 1:30 a.m. after a loud and drunk neighbor threatened him. The police responded, Knoch says, but declined to make an arrest. When he objected, Knoch says, officer Robert Kells Jr. said, "If you call us back here, we're going to drag all your asses off to jail," and then told Denosky-Smart, "I've had it with bitches like you calling and complaining."

Knoch says he told Kells, "You're being an asshole."

As Denosky-Smart tried to calm Knoch, the couple say, Kells lunged up the porch steps, grabbed Knoch around the neck, and punched him repeatedly in the head. Denosky-Smart says she tried to stop the violence, screaming, "Don't hit him in the head, he has epilepsy." Knoch insists he did nothing to resist and actually asked to be arrested to stop the punches. "This was not an arrest," he says. "It was a beating, plain and simple."

After Knoch was handcuffed, Denosky-Smart says she told Kells, "You fat, stupid piece of shit, I told you Jeff has epilepsy." She was then arrested, and like Knoch, charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

The police report, written by Kells, tells a different story. Kells says Knoch punched neighbor Joseph Bergeron in front of police (Knoch and Denosky-Smart deny he threw a punch, but Bergeron says he did). Bergeron did not want to press charges, but after Knoch swore at police, according to the report, Kells went to arrest him. Then, the report states, Knoch punched Kells in the head and struggled violently to avoid arrest.

After Knoch was handcuffed, the report continues, Denosky-Smart swore at Kells, slapped him in the face, and also resisted arrest.

Knoch and Denosky-Smart admit swearing at the police, but they adamantly deny hitting Kells or resisting arrest. And they provided a North Providence clinic bill indicating that Knoch was treated for head trauma and shoulder and back strain.

They say they pleaded guilty to the charges, however, because they want to avoid the time and expense of a trial that they would ultimately lose because, without a witness, judges are biased toward believing the police. Knoch and Denosky-Smart were sentenced to one year, but their sentences were suspended, and they were ordered to perform 20 hours of community service.

Sullivan says the internal affairs bureau is investigating the incident.

Issue Date: September 27 - October 3, 2002