Eli Sherman and Tim White
4 hours ago
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Newly released police video shows officers raiding a home last month and arresting Malick Santos, 25, who’s suspected of pistol whipping a woman and robbing another person outside a popular bar area in Providence.
The body-worn camera videos Target 12 obtained through a public-records show a half-dozen officers slowly approaching a Vicksburg Street home at about 6:25 a.m. on June 13. Officers then loudly identify themselves as Providence police before busting down the door and finding Santos lying with his face away from them on a couch.
After Santos doesn’t respond to commands to turn around and put his hands up, officers shoot him with a Taser and he falls off the couch, revealing a loaded 9-milimeter handgun lying beneath him.
“Gun, gun, gun, gun,” one officer shouts, as police activate the Taser again into Santos. “Don’t you [expletive] move.”
One of the officers moves quickly to grab the handgun before carrying it outside and unloading a round before placing it into the back of the department’s Bearcat, an armored truck Providence recently purchased to help with raids they suspect could become dangerous.
The videos show officers then using zip ties to handcuff Santos while he’s on the ground before hoisting him up and taking him outside.
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The videos don’t show what happens immediately after he exits the home, but a subsequent video shows Santos ends up on the ground flailing with an officer on his back. (Separately, police wrote in a report that Santos struck an arresting with his head and kicked another.)
Santos then begins to audibly ridicule the officers.
“C’mon, let’s have some fun,” Santos says, as his face is planted against the roadway. “So, when the cuffs come off are we going to have more fun?”
Police ultimately charged Santos with 19 criminal offenses tied to the arrest, including assaulting a police officer, possessing a stolen firearm and having illegal drugs. He’s pleaded not guilty to the charges. An attorney representing Santos didn’t respond to a request for comment. .
The police had been looking for Santos because they suspected him of robbing three people at gunpoint 11 days earlier.
Court records show three people were leaving a Providence bar called The Fish Company at about 2 a.m. on June 2 when a man — police later identified as Santos — approached them on Bridge Street and knocked one of them to the ground.
Police said Santos then pointed a gun at one of the victims and said “You don’t want no problems.” When another victim attempted to intervene, police said Santos “pointed the firearm at her then struck her on top of the head with the firearm,” according to the report.
Police said Santos then ripped a necklace and pendant off one of the victims and took off.
A police review of surveillance video from The Fish Company and The Hot Club, another popular waterfront bar alongside the Providence River, showed Santos at The Fish Company at the same time as the victims.
Police said video showed Santos left shortly before the victims and he followed them on Bridge Street before he pushed one of the victims to the ground. The video showed Santos then ran toward South Water Street and then Point Street, according to police.
Police said Violent Crime Task Force officers reviewed the video and “immediately recognized the suspect … as being Malick Santos.”
“Santos is known to them from several previous contacts and police related matters,” according to the report. Court records show Santos has been charged multiple times with criminal offenses dating back to at least 2017.
After arresting Santos on June 13, he was also charged with first degree robbery and two counts of felony assault by use of a device similar in appearance to a firearm, according to court records. He pleaded not guilty to those charges as well.
Video from his arrest showed officers finding at least two more people upstairs in the home. Both people were detained but police filed no other arrests related to the raid. Santos was held without bail and a hearing on the matter is scheduled for Thursday.
His next court date related to the charges tied to his arrest is schedule for Sept. 17. A hearing on the robbery-related charges is scheduled for July 17.
Eli Sherman (esherman@wpri.com) is a Target 12 investigative reporter for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and on Facebook.
Tim White (twhite@wpri.com) is Target 12 managing editor and chief investigative reporter and host of Newsmakers for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and Facebook.