Mahanoy Township chief named in federal civil rights indictment
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL FILE - Mahanoy Township Police Chief Harry Brown, then a patrolman, is seen at a vehicle accident on Route 339 in February of 2023.
MINERSVILLE – Mahanoy Township’s police chief is one of two former Minersville police officers facing federal charges, accused of assaulting a man and trying to cover it up.
Harry Brown has been Mahanoy Township’s top cop since Dec. 2023 when he was appointed officer-in charge. He was formally named chief over the summer.
He and Richard Clink were named in an indictment announced Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, accusing the two of civil rights violations and filing false reports.
The charges stem from an incident on Feb. 2, 2022, when the two were officers with the Minersville Borough Police Department.
U.S. Attorney Gerard Karam alleges that Brown and Clink deprived an arrestee of their right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer.
That force, federal authorities allege, led to bodily injury to the arrestee and the two officers then falsified reports to cover up their use of force.
According to the indictment, Brown filed a report stating the suspect “took a boxer’s stance and raised his fist,” prompting him to draw his stun gun and order the man to the ground. He didn’t, so the stun gun was deployed, Brown wrote, to no avail.
Coal Region Canary reported that the man was pulled over and had an active arrest warrant.
Brown claimed the two engaged in a fight in which the man struck Brown in the face and continued to resist arrest.
Federal authorities allege that, instead, the two officers physically assaulted the suspect by striking and punching him.
Both Brown and Clink have entered not guilty pleas and have been ordered to surrender their passports, according to court filings.
The Canary reports that the incident was the subject to a civil lawsuit that was settled out of court.
A court filing Wednesday scheduled trial for mid-December.
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