By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org

Samuel Provenza, the former Canaan Police Officer accused of assaulting a woman during a traffic stop, had computer access beyond his rank to the department’s video system, and the ability to delete dashboard camera videos, according to a Grafton County Sheriff’s investigation.

This information came to light through a right-to-know request by InDepthNH.org.

Provenza now works as a New Hampshire State Trooper.

 According to records, the Grafton County Sheriff’s Department investigated Provenza in 2019 after a former Canaan police officer accused Provenza of deleting the video of the Crystal Eastman Wright traffic stop.

Provenza is being sued in the federal court in Concord by Wright, who accuses him of assaulting her during a 2017 traffic stop while he was still with the Canaan police department.

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

According to the Grafton County Sheriff’s investigation, Provenza had access to the department’s computer system normally reserved for supervisors. That access would have given him the ability to delete videos. Though there is no evidence any video was deleted, Aaron Treadwell, the department’s computer contractor, told investigators there was no way to know for sure.

“(Treadwell) advised that he had no way of knowing that. He stated that if someone had removed the memory card from the camera prior to the data being uploaded to one of two servers located in the booking room, it is a distinct possibility,” Wayne Fortier, an investigator with the Grafton County Sheriff’s department wrote in his report.

The investigation found that Provenza was given the higher-level access to the system in April of 2017, though Fortier reports that event had nothing to do with Wright’s stop that would take place in November of 2017.

Treadwell told Fortier that Provenza used Canaan Police Sgt. Ryan Porter’s login information in April of 2017 to give himself the authority to remove memory cards from the dashboard cameras before the data would be uploaded. The system does not make a record of when the memory cards are removed. Whoever had the authority to remove the memory card from the camera before the upload would also have the ability to delete video, Treadwell told Fortier.

Provenza claimed that his camera malfunctioned on the day of his encounter with Wright, and there is no video of the arrest. Treadwell told Fortier that seemed suspicious, given the camera worked the day before and the day after.

“(Treadwell) stated it was a little ‘fishy’ that (Provenza’s) in-car camera had data on it the day before and the day after but not on the day in question,” Fortier wrote.

Fortier also spoke to Christine Day, the department’s administrative assistant, who said Chief Samuel Frank kept the investigation into Wright’s arrest “hush-hush.” She said Frank had given Provenza administrative rights to the computer system that even she and the two department sergeants did not have.

“Her understanding of these administrative rights was that whoever had them pretty much could do what they wanted to do within the system,” Fortier wrote. 

Provenza was not well-liked by his fellow police officers in Canaan, according to Sgt. Todd Baravalle. He told Fortier that Provenza had been gaining control over the department, taking over responsibility for shift scheduling, payroll processing, and even control of the evidence room. Baravalle blamed Frank for giving Provenza too much power and called it a management failure.

“(Baravalle) described Officer Provenza as being very secretive, seldom ever admits his mistakes, and was generally late in submitting his police reports,” Fortier wrote.

Provenza told Fortier that Baravalle was upset with him for taking over some of his responsibilities, but he got along well with the rest of the department. Day, according to Provenza, caused problems in the department and worked to get officers in trouble. He denied deleting the video of the Wright arrest. 

Frank told Fortier that Provenza passed a lie detector test when he went to work for State Police, and that he’s satisfied Provenza is telling the truth.

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 Provenza, the details of what it found 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 that the report needs to be made public. Provenza appealed that 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 to make the MRI report available as evidence in the case is also pending in the federal court.

According to Wright’s 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.

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 when 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.