Worcester Officer Appealed Suspension Over Slapping Incident

WORCESTER, MA — A Worcester officer who was caught on video apparently slapping a man strapped to a stretcher has appealed a five-day suspension that was handed down this winter, records show.

Worcester officer Ryan Joyal was notified of a five-day suspension on Jan. 29. That same day, he wrote an email to City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. to request an appeal under the state Civil Service law, internal emails show. As the city's appointing authority, all Civil Service appeals go first to Augustus.

As of Tuesday, that appeal was still under review, according to a city spokesperson. Gary Nolan, an attorney for the Worcester Police Patrolman’s Union, NEPBA Local 911, said there hasn't been a hearing yet. Nolan also said there may be more appeals later on.

"The union and the city are actively working together to coordinate the exchange of information and set up a hearing date, which will hopefully be in the near future," Nolan said in an email Tuesday. "Under the parties’ collective bargaining agreement, further appeals, which are very common given the dynamics of the process, would be heard by an arbitrator."

Last week, MassLive reported Joyal was cleared in an internal investigation of unnecessary use of force. But he was found to have violated department policy by not verbally reporting the force to a supervisor, according to the report.

The video of the slapping was recorded in July by a driver along Main Street. In the video, a man can be seen lying on a stretcher about to be loaded into a Vital EMS ambulance. The video shows one of three officers standing around the stretcher hit the man in the head.

Joyal's suspension triggered wider unrest in the department, with perhaps up to a dozen members of the patrolman's union calling in sick to protest the punishment. An inquiry into the alleged sick-out was still under investigation as of Tuesday, according to the city manager's office.