Former Weymouth officer sentenced for assaulting man in custody

A former Weymouth police officer was sentenced Tuesday for assaulting a man in custody.

Justin Chappell, 43, punched the victim multiple times without any justification, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts said in a statement.

The incident occurred just over two years ago when Chappell responded to a call about an allegedly intoxicated man causing a disturbance. He then arrested the man. While Chappell tried to put him in the police car, he punched the man 13 times with a closed fist, authorities say. 

“The punches caused obvious pain and visible injuries to the man’s head,” Tuesday’s statement read in part.  

Chappell resigned from the force in July of 2022 and pleaded guilty to these charges in April. An investigation from the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission found his actions “renders him unfit for duty as a police officer and dangerous to the public.”

Judge Allison D. Burroughs sentenced Chappell to two years supervised release, six months of home confinement, and 40 hours of community service. This sentence is drastically lower from the maximum sentence for deprivation of rights resulting in bodily injury, which is up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.