Ex-Canaan Police Officer Accused of Lying About Cruiser Camera Video in Lawsuit

Print More

Courtesy photo

Crystal and Doug Wright

By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org

Court documents recently filed in the federal civil rights lawsuit against former Canaan police officer Samuel Provenza reveal he was accused of lying about the cruiser camera video from a disputed traffic stop, and then later deleting the evidence.

Provenza is being sued in federal court in Concord by Canaan resident, Crystal Eastman Wright, who accuses him of assaulting her during a 2017 traffic stop. Provenza is currently working as a New Hampshire State Trooper.

Provenza said immediately after the stop that his cruiser camera malfunctioned and there is no video evidence of what happened during the disputed stop.

However, a former Canaan officer went to authorities in 2019 with a different story, according to an investigative report filed by Grafton County Sheriff’s Deputy Frederick James. The Grafton County Sheriff’s Department was called in to investigate the former officer’s claims in February of 2019 by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.

The former officer, now a pastor, told James another Canaan officer had reached out to him because he was troubled by the incident. The names of the officers are redacted from the report obtained by InDepth.org. 

“[Redacted name] reports that [redacted name] told him that Provenza had lied about the video not working and that he had personal knowledge that Provenza has accessed to the video using Officer Porter’s access code and deleted the video,” the report states.

Brian Cullen, Provenza’s attorney in the case, was not available for comment on Friday. Deputy Attorney General Jane Young, and Senior Assistant Attorney General Geoffrey Ward, were unable to offer comment when reached Friday.

David Parenteau, with the New Hampshire Police Standards and Training Council, said Provenza’s certification to be a police officer in New Hampshire is currently in good standing.

The Sheriff’s report only recently came to light through a right-to-know request from Wright’s attorneys. It was not made available as part of the discovery process in the federal lawsuit.

Wright’s attorney, Samantha Heuring, declined to comment when contacted Friday. 

After Wright accused Provenza of assaulting her, leaving her with an injury, the town hired Municipal Resources Inc., or MRI, to conduct an investigation. While that investigation reportedly cleared Provezna, the details of that inquiry were never disclosed.

 Valley News journalist James Kenyon is seeking a copy of the 2018 MRI report and went to court to get it released after initially being denied. Last year, Grafton Superior Court Judge Peter Bornstein ordered the report needs to be made public. Provenza is appealing that decision to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, where an order is pending. 

The MRI report is also part of Wright’s federal lawsuit, as she is seeking access to the report through the discovery process. The decision on whether or not to make the MRI report available as evidence in the case is also pending in the federal court.

 According to the lawsuit, Provenza had a well-known reputation for use of force when he pulled Wright over on Nov. 30 of 2017. During the stop, Provenza reportedly put his head into Wright’s car and was acting aggressively, according to her lawsuit. She picked up her iPhone and started recording when she heard a “ruckus,” her lawsuit states.

“It was Officer Provenza grabbing onto the door and ripping on it in an attempt to open it. His eyes were bulging out of his head, his veins were popping out of his neck, and he was visibly enraged,” the lawsuit states.

Provenza then allegedly grabbed the 5-foot, two-inch 115-pound woman by her ponytail and dragged her out of her car as she was screaming and begging for someone to help, according to the lawsuit. He handcuffed her and hit her in the knee, despite the fact she was not resisting, according to the lawsuit. That blow to the knee tore her ACL, according to the lawsuit. Provenza’s dashboard camera would have captured this incident. 

 Wright was eventually charged with resisting arrest for the incident, but was later found not guilty, according to the lawsuit. She was convicted of disobeying a police officer, according to Bornstein’s order, and she lost her appeal to that conviction.

The federal lawsuit claims that the town and the police department knew about Provenza’s violence and that he was never properly disciplined. 

Provenza was the only other witness present with New Hampshire State Police Trooper Christopher O’Toole shot and killed Jesse Champney in December of 2017. The shooting was deemed justified despite the fact Champney was running away from O’Toole and died from a gunshot wound to his back, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s report.

Comments are closed.