By Nick B. Reid
SEABROOK — The New Hampshire
attorney general's office is "still in the early stages" of its
investigation into alleged police brutality at the Seabrook Police Department.
After a YouTube video started
making its way around the Web showing an officer slamming a seemingly
non-threatening suspect into the wall of the police station's cell block, and
another officer laughing and pepper spraying the teenager while he's on the
ground, the attorney general's office quickly took over the investigation on
Jan. 8.
Three officers — Keith
Dietenhofer, Mark Richardson and Adam Laurent — were suspended with pay while
the incident is probed.
More than three weeks later,
lead investigator and Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young said it's
too early to give an accurate prediction of when the investigation will come to
a close.
"The investigation is
active and ongoing at this time. Given that status, I cannot provide any
further detail at this time," she wrote in an e-mail Friday morning.
Seabrook Town Manager Bill
Manzi said "progress" was being made in the case. Asked to elaborate
on what that means, he said only, "There has been progress in that
area."
In the meantime, Manzi
confirmed that the three suspended officers are still being paid while on leave
from their usual roles as patrolmen with the department.
Deputy Seabrook Police Chief
Mike Gallagher said in a press conference Jan. 8 that he will conduct his own
investigation of the department, but only after the conclusion of the attorney
general's investigation. The U.S. attorney's office and the FBI also joined the
investigation.
