The Worcester T&G reports today that Worcester police have filed a criminal complaint for misdemeanor assault and battery against Larry Cirignano based on the incident in which he (allegedly) pushed Sarah Loy to the ground during an anti-marriage rally. The next step is a hearing before a clerk magistrate, who will decide whether probable cause exists to continue the matter in court.
Although reporter Richard Nangle wrote the original T&G story about this incident, today’s story is written by a different guy, most likely because Nangle is apparently an eyewitness and will likely be testifying at the hearing.
Stay tuned. And no, I don’t have the video!
Please share widely!
(Or one of the witnesses). This guy is done. Larry Cirignano can’t say that the witness was a fellow protester and their credibility is in question.
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..and it’s now a criminal matter:
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Rich Nangle is one of Worcester’s best reporters. Always fair and unbiased.. one that reports just the facts….very thorough.
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I know personally; he has done articles about me and my advocacy efforts here in the City. Very accurate quotes and he doesn’t use a recorder as some reporters do. and he still gets all the facts straight.
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I certainly would want him testifying for me. The videotape will seal it, pictures don’t have “spin”!
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I’m sure by now, the detective bureau has at least a copy of it.
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I’d say the clock is ticking for Mr. Cirignano.
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Remember Worcester police chief Gary Gemme, was a co-chair for the public safety working group.
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He is very pro community and he is not fond of anyone, or group coming in and giving the City a black eye, (per se) by not respecting the City’s ordinances.
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They will not leave any stone unturned. Our crime rates here are down. This won’t be swept under the rug…trust me. The City Council meets tonight, and I’m sure this will be a topic brought up by at least one of them…
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Stay tuned….I can watch live as well anyone who gets Worcester cable.
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I will update if it becomes a topic…..Lt. Gov. Elect Murray only has at the most 3 more Council meetings to preside over. I’m sure he wants to go out without anything negative or controversial hanging over his head…he wants his legacy here to be a positive one…….and for the most part …it has been.
Even if there were no witnesses, photos, or anything, Larry Cirignano has already publicly stated that he put his hand on Mrs. Loy’s back in order to escort her. The moment he did that he proved assault by the letter of the law. His words will now be used against him in court, and he won’t be able to take them back. It won’t matter if Mrs. Loy can prove he pushed her or not, but with all the witnesses that have nothing to do with each other all coming forward with the same story, I don’t think a reasonable person will try to refute them all.
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BayWindows will have an exclusive photo on Thursday when the publish that was taken immediately after the attack.
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Check out some of the pics at:
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http://worcester.ind…
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Notice in one of the pics how far away from the podium everyone is? This does not jive with Cirignano’s story, or my personal recollection, having been there myself.
I’m no lawyer. Heck, I’m not even an accountant or doctor. Poor GGW Jewish Mom.
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ANYWAY, while I have nothing to add on this case specifically. However, I think you err when you define assault (do you actually mean battery?) as the “he put his hand on her back.”
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For both assault (threat) and battery (contact), I thought a reasonable person would have to think that the physical action would lead to harm. “Hand on back to escort” – well my wife says I’m unreasonable, so I don’t count, but not sure that would meet the “reasonable person” standard.
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Can one of our country lawyers clarify?
The definition of assault has been tortured over the years, and actually means different things in civil and criminal law.
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Briefly, as far as Massachusetts criminal law goes, the terms assault and battery are used almost synonymously and interchangeably, with battery defined as the unlawful application of force to another, and assault being the attempt to commit the battery, OR an unlawful act placing another in apprehension of immediate battery.
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In the civil sense, apprehension is required. So, if you had your back to someone who shoved you, and you had no idea it was coming, you would probably have a battery and not an assault.
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Here, in the criminal context, there is probably both an assault and battery given the facts as I understand them. In the civil sense, there probably at least a battery.
Ed, you’re responding to “facts as I understand them” and I’m not sure which facts — the “shove to the ground facts”, or the “escort-at-the-minimum/contact was made facts”?
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Again, just to advance my own understanding of legal terms, and not to comment on this specific case (where is that durned videotape? the only BMG related physical confrontation video that turned up on youtube was charley jello wrestling with dan kennedy):
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If you, a stranger, put your hand on my back to “escort” me, say thru a restaurant door, and I didn’t want you to touch me….is that assault/battery, as suggested above, because it was “unwanted touching”?
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Poster above suggests: yes.
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I think no. Instead, unwanted touching with NO INTENT TO HARM is just annoying.
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Thanks again for edification. Ed-ification? Get it? I’m like Grand Priz of comedy over here.
…is the basic issue for both criminal and tortious battery. If you touch someone, even harm them accidentally, without intent to offend or do harm you are neither guilty or liable. Touching someone on the back and escorting them would be hard to classify as either criminal or tortious, unless in the civil sense you were on notice that the person did not want to be touched. Shoving someone to the ground almost per se proves the crime and the tort and you would have to provide a very compelling argument to get out of it, like “I shoved her so a falling brick would not hit her on the head.”
Everyone seems to be going back and forth on what constitutes assault and battery, so here is a quote:
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Officers did not witness the incident, Worcester police spokesperson Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst told EDGE Dec. 19. If they had, they would have placed Cirignano under arrest on a misdemeanor charge, he said. “He’s already admitted that he touched her,” Hazelhurst reported. Under Massachusetts law, a person can be charged with assault and battery by merely touching another person if the touch is unwanted, Hazelhurst explained. “He pushed her down and he admits that as well.”
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Mystery solved.
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http://www.edgebosto…
…the police had no probable cause to arrest him for battery but that does not mean that he can’t be eventually charged with battery.
The facts I was assuming were actually the “best case scenario” as I see it for Cirignano, which is that he was escorting the victim from the podium area, rather than angrily shoving her.
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Without debating the merit of that contention, I would say that there is still a battery in that case. A battery is defined at common law (not by statute) as the “unlawful application of force” to another person, and does not require the person be harmed. An unwelcome kiss, for example, can constitute battery.
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The question of intent centers around the intent to apply the force, not intent to cause actual harm.
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The lesson, as always: keep your “Mitts” to yourself. Ba-dum-bum-bum.
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(A Note: Many of you will no doubt think the above result ludicrous. As a practical matter, does there have to be harm? Try bringing an assault case where someone placed a hand on your shoulder and you’ll see how far you get. There’s always a slight difference in the law in theory and the law in practice.)
In my haste to make my point that he has already admitted what amounts to to battery I used the wrong words. My apologies for not being more accurate. He still cooked his own goose though.
I’ve had experience with Richard Nangle, as well. He interviewed me back at the height of the Howard Dean Meet-Up popularity, and he did an accurate and fair job. He has been a respected reporter around here for years, so his word on what happened here is as good as gold. Mr. Cirignano’s previous musings on “proctology” as well as his actions at this rally tell us much about this individual’s integrity.
If you’re wondering what lightiris is talking about…