Citizen’s recording of ‘Manhunt’ incident aided in internal police investigation

MANCHESTER, NH – Manchester Police Officer Austin Biery turned off his Body Worn Camera (BWC) before telling a homeless man, who was stopped when he was about to defecate and shoot-up drugs in an alley, that they were going to play a game of “Manhunt” and he was giving him a 20-minute head start.

It is only because resident Caitlyn Reilly recorded the Aug. 12, 2024 encounter that the public became aware of Biery and other officers berating the man and, after he ran off, laughing as an officer on the cruiser’s loud speaker counts down, “One Mississippi. Two Mississippi…”

Reilly, who resides at The Flats, 235 Hanover St., used her cell phone to record the incident.  Looking out her window overlooking the alley, she witnessed an officer on a motorcycle and two uniformed officers confronting the man on Londonderry Lane, near Union Street. Another officer, who used a loud speaker, was inside a police cruiser. Two other officers were in another police car, out of view of the camera, but neither of them got out of the police car or had a part in the incident.

On Tuesday, police announced that the officers involved were disciplined.

According to disciplinary letters released by the Manchester Police Department, the following action was taken against the officers involved:

• Officer Austin Biery, a two-day suspension, held in abeyance for one year on condition there are no more infractions.  He is to take sensitivity training and also was suspended from acting as a field training officer for a year.
• Officer James McCoy, a written reprimand for using a police cruiser’s loud speaker to make “childish comments.”
• Officer Dominic Sardo a four-day suspension, two days held in “abeyance” (conditioned on no further infractions). He was ordered to undergo sensitivity training.

Zachary Chivell, an officer in training under the oversight of Biery, was not disciplined.

Manchester Ink Link obtained Sgt. Amanda Smith’s 25-page internal investigative report of the incident and the officers’ actions.

She attempted to locate the homeless man, whose name is blacked out in the released documents, but was unable to connect with him.

Biery, she wrote, admitted to asking the man, “What if I go and take a shit at your mom’s door?”  He told the man multiple times to go back to Rochester, that they didn’t want him in Manchester.  He explained to him that defecating in public and pulling out his genitals will lead to him being a sex offender.  “Don’t fucking pull your pants down in public, because if I see I’m going to throw you through a brick wall,” he told him.

Smith wrote that “such comments need little in the way of explanation for one to see why they are inappropriate, discourteous, and clearly unprofessional.  Ofc. Biery’s anger and frustration are apparent in his choice of words and demeanor.”

The man, she said, was non-confrontational, yet evasive and deceptive.  Earlier that day, he had been arrested for shooting up heroin in public.  That night, Biery located a syringe loaded with heroin in the alley where he was and saw fresh blood in the elbow crease of the man’s right arm, consistent with attempts to insert the syringe in his arm.  The man insisted he was not using drugs and said he was trying to get his kids back.

“You don’t give a fuck about your kids, because you would rather shoot up, in a fucking alleyway, than be a fucking parent,” Biery told him.

Smith said while viewing the video uploaded to Manchester Ink Link, she viewed Biery shutting off his BWC with ”the anticipation of ending his interaction with (the man).  However, inexplicably, Ofc. Biery continues interacting with (the man) stating, ‘(name deleted) we’re about to play a game of ‘Manhunt.’ I’m going to give you a 20-minute head start, and if I see you again, you’re going to jail.”

Biery told Smith the comment was not planned and poorly worded. He said the statement was meant to encourage the man to “lay low,” to not go and defecate somewhere else, and to not let officers find him doing the same thing, a block away.  Biery said in letting him go and not arresting him, they were trying to use their discretion and “cut him a break.’”

“Ofc. Biery (sic) poor choice of words turned a situation, that was meant to be professional, into a game,” Smith wrote.

Once the officer told the man to leave, they began to count, “One Mississippi. Two Mississippi.”  Biery, Smith wrote, is heard telling Officer McCoy, who is on the loud speaker, to say “Ready or not, here we come! on the PA.”  Biery, when asked, said there was no point to that comment and that it was poor judgment.

He told Smith he could not articulate “how much he wished that he would have handled the call differently.  He stated that he has never done anything like that before, and that it was probably one of the worst moments of his career.  He wished he would have done anything but what he did.  He lost his emotional control.  Ofc. Biery stated that he is very apologetic about it, that it’s not acceptable, and that he takes full responsibility for everything,” Smith wrote.

She said in her report that Biery’s statement about a “Manhunt” and the officers’ behavior that followed “turned what should have been professional situation into a child’s game, effectively bringing disrepute to him and the Manchester Police Department,” Smith wrote.

Biery, she wrote, never had a “sustained civilian complaint” made against him.  In January 2022, however, he was verbally counseled in relation to a BWC review concerning a “poorly worded comment that he had made.”  He accepted responsibility and said he understood how his words could be misconstrued.  Biery also has received multiple compliments and awards during his time at the Manchester Police Department.

Biery, Smith said, violated department rules concerning prohibited conduct for being discourteous and for conduct unbecoming an officer.

She recommended he be formally disciplined.  The department’s administrative staff agreed with her assessment.

Dominc Sardo, who was on his motorcycle, never activated his BWC.  He said he was there as backup and he believed the situation was under control and his assistance wasn’t needed.  However, Smith said Sardo was asked by Biery to observe drug paraphernalia that was located in the area and given Sardo’s close proximity to the man who was stopped, and his clear line of sight to him, he should have had the camera on.

He also is heard on the recording telling the man, “I guarantee.  I’ll bet $100 on my fucking paycheck I’m going to see you tomorrow.”  The man had said he was going back to Rochester.  Sardo, asked why he made that comment, said it was to let the man know he believed he was lying.

Smith said in viewing Reilly’s video,” Sardo can be heard laughing as Officer McCoy used the PA to count “One Mississippi. Two Mississippi, REDACT.’”

Smith said, on the recording, officers could be heard laughing as the countdown was happening. “Such behavior is clearly juvenile and reflects poorly on him and the officers,” Smith wrote.

She found that Sardo violated BWC procedures but, while he laughed at the countdown, she said a charge of discourtesy was unfounded. Assistant Chief of Police Peter Marr, and Captains Sean Leighton and John Cunningham agreed with formal disicipline for Sardo not activating BWC.  They also said, however, that the discourtesy charge rose to the level of conduct unbecoming an officer and the need for discipline.

Smith recommended informal discipline for McCoy for misusing his cruiser’s loud speaker in making childish remarks (One Mississippi. Two Mississippi.)  but Captains Sean Leighton, John Cunningham and Assistant Chief of Police Peter Marr disagreed, saying his conduct justified formal discipline.

As a result, McCoy was given a written reprimand.