NASHVILLE, Tenn. —
A Tennessee state trooper testified Monday that he saw his former colleague on the force yank the mask off a protester last summer during the COVID-19 pandemic, refuting the former officer’s denial before a judge advanced the misdemeanor assault charge against him.
Nashville General Sessions Judge William Higgins sent the case against former Trooper Harvey Briggs to a grand jury after Monday’s preliminary hearing, which included testimony from the protester whom Briggs is accused of assaulting, Andrew Golden, and Trooper Brian Carmouche, who said he watched Briggs pull the mask off Golden’s face.
Prosecutors also played Golden’s widely circulated recording of the August 2020 incident, which shows Golden’s mask on the ground but didn’t capture Briggs removing it, and when Golden said the trooper ripped off his mask Briggs denied doing so on camera.