Brickbat: Pounding the Pavement

Providence, Rhode Island, police captain Stephen J. Gencarella was sentenced to one year of probation after pleading no contest to simple assault. Gencarella and another officer arrested Armando Rivas after he refused to move his vehicle from the travel lane of an interstate on-ramp. Rivas struggled with the two officers. After they finally got Rivas handcuffed and on the ground, Gencarella lifted his head up by the hair and slammed his face into the pavement. City officials have begun the process to fire Gencarella.