Community
With a rally to be held this week demanding their arrest, Fall River Police defend officers involved in death of Anthony Harden
An incident involving Fall River Police that resulted in a fatal shooting in Fall River 4 years ago has resulted in more tv commercials from the man’s estate and a response from the FRPD.
Attorney Eric Mack, in care of the estate of his brother Anthony Harden, filed a civil lawsuit late last year against the City of Fall River, former Chief Jeffrey Cardoza, and other officers believed to be involved in the case.
On November 22, 2021, Harden was fatally shot in his apartment on Melville Street by an officer during a reported struggle with another officer after Fall River Police arrived at his home concerning a domestic violence investigation.
Mack has contended that his brother was shot while unarmed and that officers involved attempted to cover their tracks.
In response to the airing of new commercials, Fall River Police issued the following statement on Monday:
“The Fall River Police Department is issuing this statement in response to repeated paid television commercials targeting its police officers with baseless conspiracy theories arising out of the Police Involved shooting of Anthony Harden on November 22, 2021.
“The facts are that Officer Chelsea Campellone acted heroically when forced to shoot Mr. Harden to prevent him from stabbing her partner. At the time the officers were arresting Mr. Harden for a domestic violence incident.
“Officer Campellone’s courageous actions were warranted. After an exhaustive investigation, including interviews of over twenty civilian and police witnesses, and additional forensic examinations, the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office found the shooting to be legally justified.
“Nevertheless, on November 8, 2024, Eric Mack, as the Personal Representative of the Estate of Anthony Harden, filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Fall River and several of its police officers.
“Since then, Mack has continued to release misleading media attacks against Fall River Police Officers. These include paid television commercials in an attempt to sow conspiracy theories and taint the public’s perception of this unfortunate event. These commercials even offer a bounty for the arrests and conviction of the officers. Mack presents misleading extracts of evidence in an effort to manipulate the facts of the case, intimidate witnesses, retaliate against officers, and prejudice his federal lawsuit.
“Mack even attacks Officer Campellone for being a personal survivor of domestic violence and makes false allegations of racial bias.
“The FRPD is compelled to speak out today to support its police officers and refute Mack’s continued deceptive public attacks. The FRPD fully supports its officers, particularly Officer Campellone, who was forced to discharge her firearm because of Mr. Harden’s attempt to stab her partner.
“The FRPD provides the following facts, which are absent from Mack’s media attack campaign.
“Which begs the question, why is Mack leaving these facts out?
“On November 22, 2021, Officer Campellone saved the life of her fellow officer, Michael Sullivan. Officer Campellone only shot Mr. Harden because he suddenly tried to stab Officer Sullivan with a knife.
“Officers were present inside Harden’s apartment to arrest him on charges of domestic violence because one of Mr. Harden’s girlfriends reported that he had beaten and tormented her, threatened to kill her, and stated that he would die if she called the police on him.
“Mr. Harden had previously broken this girlfriend’s knee, threatened her with knives, and left bruises all over her face and body. After months of violence, she could no longer withstand Mr. Harden’s physical and psychological abuse.
“On November 22, 2021, Mr. Harden’s victim called for police assistance. He harassed this girlfriend by calling her approximately 100 times and destroyed her cell phone, after physically abusing her just two days before.
“At the time of this incident, Anthony Harden had been on court-ordered house arrest for over two years. This was a result of a violent assault and standoff in 2019.
“On November 14, 2019, a different woman accused Mr. Harden of beating her, strangling her, threatening her with a knife, and sexually assaulting her.
“When police responded, Mr. Harden held his infant hostage for nearly four hours.
“He held a sword to the child’s neck. He also recited biblical quotes while threatening to kill both himself and his child.
“Mr. Harden even livestreamed portions of this police stand-off on his Facebook page.
“The District Attorney charged Mr. Harden with aggravated rape, reckless endangerment of a child, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery.
“After his court-ordered medical evaluation, a judge found Mr. Harden to be a “dangerous person” and ordered him to remain on house arrest with a GPS monitoring bracelet.
“In April of 2020, Mr. Harden violated his court-ordered conditions of release by attempting to contact and threaten the victim of his domestic violence. He was sent to jail before later being returned to house arrest.
“The State Police and District Attorney’s investigation into Mr. Harden’s death have revealed that by November 22, 2021, Mr. Harden’s mental state had been seriously deteriorating, both before and during his house arrest.
“Mr. Harden covered the walls of his apartment with disturbing graffiti and was living in squalor. He was growing increasingly paranoid, and felt compelled to arm himself with knives, all within his own home. He was physically and psychologically abusing at least one of his girlfriends, and had become increasingly unhealthy gaining over 50 pounds.
“Let us be clear when we say: it is always unfortunate when police officers must use deadly force. The loss of a member of our community, no matter the circumstances, is always tragic. No police officer wants to be forced to use deadly force.
“But let us be equally clear when we say: Officer Campellone’s use of deadly force was necessary. Mr. Harden’s death was justified because he attempted to stab a police officer.
“At the time of his death, Mr. Harden was apparently a disturbed individual with little social or familial support and had a long and troubled history of physical violence against others in our community.
“The Fall River Police Department stands fully and steadfastly behind Officer Campellone, Officer Sullivan and all of its police officers involved in this case. We also stand behind the investigation by the Massachusetts State Police and the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office that cleared the officers of any wrongdoing.
“The FRPD looks forward to the trial of this matter in federal court, where the facts will be presented fully and fairly to a jury.
“We are confident that our officers will be exonerated.”
Late last year, the Fall River Police Department issued the following statement in response to the lawsuit filed by the Harden Estate:
“On Friday, November 8, 2024, Attorney Eric B. Mack who represents the Estate of Anthony Harden filed a Federal Lawsuit against the Fall River Police Department and the City of Fall River. Prior to this filing, Attorney Mack has gone on a media campaign attempting to slander the brave men and women of our agency and discredit the investigation conducted by the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office. We felt that it was important to issue the following statement in the wake of Attorney Mack filing his formal lawsuit.
“Following the tragic incident involving Mr. Anthony Harden, the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office conducted a comprehensive investigation of the circumstances of the incident and the actions of police officers that evening. [Link to Investigation: http://bristolda.com/bristol-district-attorney-anthony…/]
“Undoubtably, this is a tragedy, but the facts confirmed by the investigation show that the response by the officers that evening was justified based on Mr. Harden’s attack on the officers. In understanding what occurred, it is important to consider that Mr. Harden had a troubling history of domestic violence. He also had previously demonstrated his resistance and lack of compliance toward law enforcement.
“In 2013, a female who was in a relationship with Mr. Harden reported that he assaulted her and tore her clothing. He damaged her car and hit it with a skateboard causing damage. A restraining order against Mr. Harden was issued because of this incident. He was charged with assault and battery as well as vandalizing property.
“Five years ago today, November 14, 2019, Mr. Harden was again involved in a domestic violence incident. He was accused of punching, slapping, strangling, hitting the female victim with a stick, as well as threatening her with a knife. As a result of this report, officers went to the residence to arrest Mr. Harden. When the police arrived and knocked on the door, he answered it holding his 5-month-old child and brandishing a sword. A three-and-a-half-hour standoff with police ensued, during which he repeatedly threatened that he would be “squeezing [the infant] to death” if they tried to “rush” him. Mr. Harden also made Facebook recordings while holding his daughter saying, “There are some cool cops, but they’re going to have to kill a n***** today or meet my demands because I’m not giving in…”
“Eventually, through the negotiations with police, he was taken into custody. After a dangerousness hearing, the court released Mr. Harden ordering that he wear a GPS bracelet and be placed in home confinement. Despite the court’s order, Mr. Harden made threats to the victim. A restraining order was also issued as a result of this incident.
“In November of 2021, two officers went to his residence because a female who he was in a relationship with reported that he had assaulted her. The female warned that he told her “if [she] calls the police [he] will die.” It was also reported to officers that he could be expected to use anything for a weapon. Officers went to his residence to take him into custody. While interacting with Mr. Harden he suddenly attacked an officer with a knife. The second officer was forced to take action to protect the other officer from serious injury or death. These facts were confirmed by the District Attorney’s investigation. At the time of this incident, which is the subject of the lawsuit, Mr. Harden was still on release awaiting trial for the 2019 incident.
“Attorney Mack has made serious allegations of wrongdoing by the Fall River Police Department. That is the right of every citizen, and the Court will decide where the truth lies. We are confident that the officers acted not only bravely but appropriately given the circumstances.
“We want to add that it is regrettable that Attorney Mack is attempting to continually publicly traumatize one of the officers involved. That officer is a survivor of domestic violence and does not deserve to be re-victimized by Attorney Mack’s attempts to discredit her. Attorney Mack also continues to cast unfounded allegations on the officer’s fitness for duty, based solely on his own subjective opinion. Such statements are irrelevant to this case and raise serious questions about the ethical nature of the lawsuit.
“The attorney’s approach has unfairly called into question the integrity and character of the dedicated men and women who serve the city with honor each day.”
A “Justice for Anthony Harden” rally on the 4-year anniversary of his death is being held on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. at Britland Park asking for DA Quinn to resign and the members of FRPD involved in the case to be indicted and prosecuted.
