Disciplinary panel sides with embattled cop in bid to return to work 15%
By Mark Reynolds11%
8/5/2026, 1:37:19 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 11 faulty reasoning types, including Status Quo Bias, Appeal to Emotion, and Sunk Cost Effect, with Ambiguity (Equivocation) as the most egregious example at 19.5% saturation with 98 hits. Analysis detected 460 faulty-reasoning hits from 503 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 23% and a BS Rank of 15% (27,433 of 32,060 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 85.60% of the article peer group.
A Providence police sergeant who was accused of assaulting a handcuffed prisoner and later pleaded no contest to a simple assault charge is once again making progress in his long campaign to return to his job.
For the second time, a disciplinary panel convened under the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights has ruled that Sgt.
Joseph Hanley can return to his job, following a period of training and "reintegration and onboarding" to begin within 10 days.
The panel ordered Hanley to serve a 45-day suspension without pay for his misconduct – a penalty that the city's lawyer, Vincent F.
Ragosta Jr., acknowledges he has already served.
"The penalty of 45 days is inadequate," Ragosta said.
"It's really not responsive to the egregious criminal behavior."
Providence's police chief, Col.
Oscar L.
Perez Jr., said the city would appeal the decision and Hanley would remain suspended during the appeal, while Providence Mayor Brett Smiley expressed his extreme disappointment, saying that the panel's decision sends the "wrong message about what conduct is tolerated by those entrusted with protecting our communities."
The three-member panel took up the case a second time in July based on instructions from Superior Court Judge Brian Stern.
Back in July 2025, the judge had declared that the panel had erroneously allowed testimony from Hanley as a witness and that the panel "had also failed to provide any competent evidence to support its conclusion” that Hanley had not violated state law governing assault and battery.
A Providence police sergeant who pled no contest to assaulting a handcuffed man may return to his job.
A disciplinary panel ordered Sgt.
Joseph Hanley to serve a 45-day suspension, which he has already completed.
The City of Providence plans to appeal the panel's decision, calling the penalty inadequate for the misconduct.
The precise timing and mechanics of Hanley's return to work weren't immediately clear on Wednesday, Aug.
5.
Robert Colucci, Hanley's lawyer, said that he understood that the department might continue to keep Hanley suspended during the course of a new appeal.
A police spokeswoman, Kristy dosReis, clarified that while Hanley would remain suspended, he would now receive pay.
Cranston police Maj.
Todd Patalano, also a state senator, and retired Providence police Sgt.
Robert Boehm were the panel members who supported Hanley's return.
While Providence's deputy police chief, Cmdr.
Timothy O'Hara, dissented, the panel wrote that "the penalty of termination would be inconsistent with the department's long-standing and established disciplinary precedent for similarly situated officers."
Reacting to the decision, Ragosta argued that various officers in comparable cases in Rhode Island have been fired.
Ragosta, speaking earlier in the afternoon, acknowledged that Hanley has already served many months of suspension without pay and he could be eligible to return to work whenever the city directs him, possibly as soon as Aug. 6 or Aug. 7, depending on how the city administration responds to the ruling.
"It could be today," Ragosta said.
"It could be tomorrow."
Speakers
4speakers39%attributed speech309writer words
Selected voice
93%flagged-word coverageVincent F. Ragosta Jr.
104 attributed words54% of attributed speech24% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
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