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Only on FOX25: Video appears to show U.S. Marshal kick handcuffed prisoner

BOSTON — A shocking video inside a Boston federal courtroom exclusively obtained by FOX25 Investigates is raising questions about why U.S. Marshals tackled an unarmed, mentally ill man as he spoke to his attorney.

Later, after the defendant – 47-year-old James Massaro – is handcuffed, a federal marshal kicks him at least three times, the footage shows.

The security camera video from inside the courtroom shows the aftermath of a March 29 probation violation hearing. After Massaro is sentenced to a month behind bars on the violation, the U.S. Marshals moved in to bring him into custody.

Only four seconds pass from the time U.S. Marshals Ronald Demers and Robert Larcome approach Massaro, whose back is to the federal marshals, and attempt to take him into custody and the violent scuffle that ensues.

Larcome is employed by the U.S. Marshals Service, while Demers is a deputized U.S. Marshal and federal officials said he works as a corrections officer at the Wyatt Detention Facility.

In the video, the U.S. Marshals take Massaro to the ground, screaming profanities and commands to stop resisting, as they handcuff him. The marshals then lift Massaro to his feet and drag him to the other side of the courtroom, where he is pushed up against a closed side door.

That’s when one of the federal marshals kicks Massaro three times as his hands are cuffed behind his back, footage from the video obtained by FOX25 Investigates shows.

As a result of the incident, Massaro was charged with two counts of resisting a federal officer and has been locked up awaiting trial since his March court appearance.

“There was nothing I could do to help him, but there was nothing I could do,” said Massaro’s fiancée Christina Carr, who was in court that day.

The footage also shows Judge Nathaniel Gorton sitting nearby on the bench as the entire violent incident unfolds.

“The most disturbing part of it was the judge had every ability to stop that from happening, but instead of that, he stood there and watched,” said Carr. “And that was very disturbing.”

But federal judges don’t control the U.S. Marshals Service, which is responsible for the safe and secure conduct of judicial proceedings.

Carr said Massaro suffers from bipolar disorder, depression and paranoia. Judge Gorton also references Massaro’s “history of mental health issues” in an email report about the incident obtained by FOX25 Investigates.

“I was shocked. I was just blown away,” said Carr. “I didn’t think that, you know, that the federal marshals would ever act like that.”

FOX25 Investigates reached out to Judge Gorton for comment. He declined comment through Clerk of Court Robert Farrell, who told FOX25, “The court has no comment on this pending litigation.”

But in the email that Judge Gorton sent to the court’s chief judge about the incident, he wrote, “Massaro would not put his hands behind his back to be cuffed, the Marshals tried to force him and a fight ensued.”

“Counsel table was almost tipped over and the two Marshals had their hands full as the 3 combatants rolled into the jury box and on to (sic) the floor,” Groton emailed, later writing, “The lead Marshal was aggressive and profane from the start but I think necessarily so. I am told that he was bleeding freely after the incident.

The U.S. Marshals Service wouldn’t comment on any specifics of the courtroom video because of the pending court case, but in an emailed statement to FOX25 Investigates said the agency two officers were injured in the incident.

A spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service also said the agency received a complaint about the incident.

“On October 10, an individual filed a complaint with the U.S. Marshals Service internal affairs unit alleging misconduct by federal officers in the March 29 incident,” the agency said in a statement to FOX25. “According to normal procedures involving allegations of such misconduct, the Marshals referred the allegations to the Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights and Office of the Inspector General. Both offices reviewed the case; Civil Rights declined to prosecute any of the law enforcement officers involved and OIG declined investigative interest.”

Massaro was released from prison on Dec. 8, 2014 and ordered to go to treatment at a psychiatric facility, according to court records.

Judge Gorton previously sentenced Massaro in 2011 to nearly nine years in prison after he pleaded guilty to witness tampering, conspiracy to witness tamper and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Carr told FOX25 Investigates Massaro’s past record doesn’t justify the March courtroom incident.

“I don’t care what anyone did. No one deserves to be treated like that,” said Carr. “He was an unarmed man with a mental illness. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever to do that.”

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