‘Manhunt’ of homeless man subject of police internal investigation

MANCHESTER, NH  – Manchester police officers confronted a man in an alley one night earlier this month, telling him they were going to play a game of manhunt, and they were giving him a 20-minute head start to run and hide before they came after him.

The incident, recorded by a resident who watched the confrontation, is now the subject of an internal police investigation.

On Thursday, Manchester Ink Link sent a copy of the recording to Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg.  He said he learned of the incident on Wednesday and ordered an investigation of it.

“I have already initiated an administrative investigation into this call for service,” he said in an email.  “My initial assessment in watching the video is that I have some concerns which is exactly why I have initiated an investigation.  I am going to reserve further comment until the investigation is complete. Obviously if the investigation determines that the officers acted unprofessional or in any way inappropriately you can be certain that I will take appropriate action to correct the behavior.”

The man recorded on the video tells an officer he’s “gotta get back home.”  The officer responds: “Manchester ain’t it.. You’re not doing well here so you should never come back. You should go back to Rochester.”

InkLink asked the chief if police are instructed, in essence, to tell people they encounter to go back where they came from.

The chief said, “None of my officers are instructed to tell people to go back “where they came from.” However, it is no secret that the City of Manchester has been struggling with a massive influx of homeless and transient individuals over the past several years, which has caused a significant drain on city resources.”

Caitlyn Reilly, who lives at The Flats, recorded the incident that happened about 10:50 p.m. on Aug. 12, 2024 in the alley behind her apartment building. Reilly said there were two police cruisers and a motorcycle cop on scene although only one of the cruisers is visible in the video.

She was in her living room that night when she heard a commotion and looked out a window to see what was happening.  Twenty seconds in, Reilly said she knew this was something that should be documented.

The video shows three officers, one on a motorcycle, confronting the man.  An officer said they saw him defecating against the building.  The man denies it. At least one officer knows the man because he addresses him by his first name and is the one who says he should go back to Rochester.

The officers tell the man, “You don’t care about your kids…you don’t care about your kids….’cause you’d much rather shoot up in a fucking alleyway than be a fucking parent.”

Another says, “”I bet $100 on my fucking paycheck I’m gonna see you tomorrow.”

One tells the man if he cared about his kids “you’d be home with them right now, not shooting up in a fucking dumpster.”

And an officer tells him, “If I see you again tonight you’re getting arrested. So, you better hide somewhere.”

Then an officer tells him they are going to have a manhunt.

“We’re going 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.”

The officer begins a countdown:  One Mississippi. Two Mississippi.  Three Mississippi.  A second officer, inside a police cruiser, turns on the loud speaker and starts the count over, beginning again with One Mississippi.    An officer signals to officer on the loud speaker and instructs the officer to say, “Ready or not here we come.”

Once the man has run off, the officers end their countdown and then laugh together about the incident.  One officer says they were driving down the alley and saw the man “shitting.”

As they talk, one of the officers looks up to see Reilly looking down at them from her apartment window.    She said she began recording after hearing a commotion in the alley.

“I heard speaking over the megaphone of a cop car – and wanted to check it out,” she said.  “Once I realized it was three cops on one man and they were using language not the most professional – maybe 20 seconds in — I knew this is something that should be documented.”

The officers drop the F-bomb repeatedly in talking with the man.

Reilly got her cellphone and began recording and kept recording when an officer saw her. Reilly provided Ink Link with the recording.

“Sorry, someone was trying to poop on the side of the building. We were just trying to get him to stop,” the officer calls up to her.

“It happens,” Reilly replies. “The counting was a little weird.”

“We were trying to get him to stop before we arrested him,” an officer tells her.

“Yeah, but making it a game is kind of weird,” she says.

“Yeah, well, sorry,” an officer says and they all leave.

Reilly, when providing the video to Ink Link, said that living downtown she has witnessed “our houseless neighbors being taunted and harassed” by the increased police patrols over the past two months.

She said on one occasion she witnessed a police cruiser in the area blasting loud music at night in the area of the alley and the nearby homeless shelter on Manchester Street.

Ink Link reached out to Families in Transition, which operates the 199 Manchester St. homeless shelter, concerning the treatment of the man in the alley.

“Families in Transition is aware of the story and will follow it closely,” said Maria Devlin, FIT president and CEO, in an email response.   “We are not in a position to provide any comment.”

Reilly said she could be angry that someone was defecating outside her building but chooses to direct her anger at “the fact that they have to do that because they don’t have any other choice.”

The reality is shelters are overflowing and there are no public restrooms in the downtown area open 24-hours a day that a homeless person can use, she said.

Reilly grew up in Vermont and one year flooding left her family homeless.  They never were forced to live on the streets but they lived in a shelter for several months. That experience is what makes her have more compassion for those who find themselves without a home.

She said it is disturbing how the officers harassed and taunted that man.

“What I saw was extremely unprofessional behavior from these police officers,” she wrote when she provided Manchester Ink Link with the video.  “What was most disturbing was when one of the officers told the man to run and hide so they could play a “game of manhunt.” They then proceeded to count out of the megaphone of the police vehicle. The men laughed as the man ran away.

She said the officers’ “behavior is chilling, unprofessional, and cruel. No one should taunt someone like that, especially someone with power over the community like a police officer. Furthermore, making a game out of arresting someone is frankly disturbing. I expect more of our police officers, especially when they interact with our most vulnerable citizens.”

She said she expects police officers to speak to all civilians with respect, “especially ones in vulnerable situations such as this. But what I saw was extremely unprofessional behavior from these police officers. What was most disturbing was when one of the officers told the man to run and hide so they could play a ‘game of manhunt.’ They then proceeded to count out of the megaphone of the police vehicle. The men laughed as the man ran away. “

Reilly said “it seems like they are antagonizing and terrorizing people who already have it rough.”