Allegations of Excessive Use of Force (against Wee Folk)
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There were several Citizens' Complaints against Vecchi for excessive use of
force, including one that involved the allegation that he grabbed a 14 year old, 115 pound
autistic and bi-polar boy by the throat and choked him while extricating the youth from
the back seat of a police cruiser. Vecchi claimed to have used reasonable force under the
circumstances and his subordinate officers' reports backed him up, though curiously, none indicated
precisely what physical contacts he used to remove the child from the cruiser. In another
case, Vecchi was alleged to have struck a 21 year old, drunk male in the head with his
flashlight before taking him to the ground, handcuffing then pepper-spraying him in the
face. Vecchi denied striking the man and claimed to have pepper-sprayed him before he
was handcuffed. The self-described small person claimed Vecchi repeatedly called him a
"midget" and taunted him by telling him "the circus is hiring." In another case a
complaint was filed against Vecchi by a diminutive, minority (Cape Verdean) grandfather
who also alleged Vecchi was "threatening" and used excessive force against him.
Coincidentally, in each of those cases involving allegations of excessive force, the
complainants were all of self-described small stature. Likewise, because there were no
independent, third party statements supporting the complainants' respective allegations in
those cases, their complaints were dismissed (not sustained) and Vecchi was exonerated
for lack of corroborating evidence. Clearly, Vecchi doesn't hesitate to use physical force
with members of the public, particularly if they are children, elderly, or are half his size
(Civilian Complaint #: 2011-174, Incident Date: 0110112011; Incident #: 10013096,
Incident Date: 07/01/2000; Civilian Complaint #: 20122102, Incident Date: 01130/2012).
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