Iranian Student Charges Cambridge City Police Officer With Harrassment

The Cambridge Police Department is currently investigating a charge that Sgt. Edward Hussey harrassed a man he arrested for posting a flyer last month.

Samad Nassirnia, an Iranian student with U.S. residency living in Somerville, claims to have been brutally mistreated by Hussey following his arrest for putting a poster on construction scaffolding on Massachusetts Avenue, according to articles in The Boston Globe and other newspapers.

Nassirnia declined to comment to The Crimson over the past week. "He is meeting with his attorneys this week. Also, his immigration lawyers have told him that if he talks too much to the press he will be in a dangerous position," said Ann Salmeron, a spokesman for the Central American Solidarity Association--the group for which Nassirnia was posting the leaflet advertising a political rally.

The Globe reported that the 28-year-old student at Northeastern University said Hussey clutched the Iranian's throat, handcuffed him to a desk, choked him and screamed, "Why did you take American hostages? Why don't you go back to your own country?"

Nassirnia also alleged that Hussey spoke to another officer at the police station and said "I should put him up against the wall and shoot him in the head."

He claimed to have left the station with red marks and abrasions, said The Globe. It also reported that Nassirnia saw a psychiatrist at the Cambridge Hospital who "referred him to a clinic in Somerville, where he lives, for further psychological treatment."

Nassirnia was found guilty of a misdemeanor in posting the flyer and was charged a $10 fine.

The Police Department is looking into Nassirnia's charges that Hussey harrassed him, but department spokesman Lt. Calvin Kantor refused to comment about the investigation's progress, saying "The investigation will be complete sometime this week. Will we publish the findings? Of course not, it's an internal investigation."

Hussey, who has been with the Cambridge Police force for 18 years, could not be reached for comment, but he told The Cambridge Chronicle, "I'll never get a fair shake from any newspaper. I certainly can't discuss the case because it is presently being investigated. But I will say that since 1975, I've had two citizens' complaints against me. Two."

Nassirnia told The Globe that "From the beginning Hussey sounded extremely angry. I was afraid he would lose control. I truly thought he would kill me. I have never been so scared in my life."

City Councilor Saundra Graham said last week that Sergeant Hussey "has had plenty of complaints against him," and that although "people [often] don't have the opportunity to file a formal complaint," she has heard many informal complaints against Hussey.

"He's against the poor, against the long-haired, against the Black--he's true to that cause," she said, adding that "the kids used to complain about him all the time--he used to beat them up," sometimes throwing them against walls.

According to Graham the force's record has improved. "At one time the Cambridge police was known for its brutality cases." Graham said Hussey's case is not an exceptional one, but that the department has begun to discourage brutality more severely. Still, "when they get the opportunity, they do it," she said.

A key advantage, according to Graham, is Chief Anthony Paolillo's refusal to back members of the department accused of brutality, although his predecessors tended to do so. She said members of the public are more aware of their rights and more likely to bring suit, a fact she said has reduced officers' willingness to violate citizens' rights.

"This is a perfect case that should be considered by the Citizen Review Board," said City Councilor David E. Sullivan, referring to a committee created last spring to review city policepractices but still without staff or budget.

"I expect the police will wind up investigatingthemselves...I don't think there's any publicconfidence in that process," said Sullivan.

Sullivan said City Manager Robert W. Healy "hasnot wanted that board to work properly," possiblyseeing the board as a rival to his own oversightof the department, and he added that he "has notmade the effort" to help the new agency beginfunctioning.

Councilor Alice K. Wolf said last week that"some means of external investigation isimportant" for the police department, but that itwould be less vital if the force investigatesitself responsibly. The council awaits a reportfrom Paolillo, which the chief is preparing atseveral councillors' requests.

Hussey provoked several complaints during the1970's, she said, but added that he "has a rightto due process like everyone else." She also saidthe Central Square Business Association hasrecently pressured police to "clean things up" inthe area, whose walls are often covered withposters and graffitti.

Wolf added that he may have felt obliged toenforce overzealously the law against postering."My impression is that the police officers don'talways like to do that," she said. "Here we'redealing with a misdemeanor. Asking him to stopshould have been enough.