Closing arguments expected in trial of former SWAT officer charged for pepper spraying protesters on I-676

PHILADELPHIA - Closing arguments are expected Thursday morning in the criminal trial of a former Philadelphia SWAT Officer captured on video pepper spraying protesters at close range on I-676 during the citywide unrest that followed the police killing of George Floyd.

The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office alleges that Richard Nicoletti assaulted the protesters nearly three years ago. His defense, meanwhile, claims the disgraced officer was doing his job. 

Charges include one count of possession of an instrument of crime, three counts each of simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and official oppression.

A video of Nicoletti dressed in riot gear approaching three protesters kneeling on Interstate 676 on June 1, 2020, pulling down at least one protester's mask or goggles, then pepper-spraying them, was circulated widely on social media and was included in several news stories about the national police response to demonstrations.

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Christina Sorenson, one of the protesters pepper sprayed by Nicoletti, took the stand for the prosecution on Wednesday. She told the jury after she was pepper sprayed she "lost all sense of herself, crying and screaming for help." 

In June of 2021, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said she was "extremely disturbed and quite frankly sickened beyond description" of the pepper spraying video first posted by the New York Times.

"I have never believed tear gas was an effective tool when I’ve seen it used in other cities in protests it always seemed to me to make situations worse and it has," Mayor Jim Kenney previously said.

Nicoletti's defense claims he did not break the law and was only acting on the orders of his superiors on the police force during the tumultuous incident on I-676. A Pennsylvania State Police Officer who took the stand Wednesday believes SWAT officers, including Nicoletti, protected him from an angry crowd.

Still, prosecutors from District Attorney Larry Krasner's Office allege Nicoletti's action were well beyond how an officer should act. A Philadelphia judge denied a motion from the defense to end the case and clear Nicoletti.