PROVIDENCE Five members of the state police riot control squad were among the first non-tribal officers to arrive at Narragansett Indian land in Charlestown on July 14, 2003, a detective testified yesterday.

Then-Maj. John J. Leyden Jr. had instructed them during a briefing at the former Ladd School in Exeter to get to the smoke shop and form a perimeter around it to make sure none of the evidence — in this case unstamped cigarettes — was destroyed, Detective Timothy Sanzi said.

More than 40 state troopers executed a search and seizure warrant around 1:30 p.m. that day to stop the Narragansetts from selling tax-free cigarettes. The raid erupted into a scuffling match as customers and news crews watched. Seven Narragansetts, including Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas, are on trial for misdemeanor charges that include resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and assault.

Sanzi took the stand in the seventh day of testimony before a jury and Judge Susan E. McGuirl in Superior Court. With 14 years on the force, Sanzi is part of the riot and crowd control squad, referred to as the quick response team formed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He was armed with his service weapon, two magazines of ammunition and pepper spray, but stowed a riot helmet, plastic handcuffs and batons in the car, he said.

As he walked toward the shop, Sanzi said, he saw Tribal Councilman John Brown push a uniform officer and struggle with another. He warned Brown to get out of his way but Brown refused to move. Sanzi’s left ankle twisted as he and Brown fell into the bushes, where they continued to struggle for about 5 minutes, he said in response to questions from Special Assistant Attorney General Pamela Chin.

Brown, on his hands and knees, resisted being handcuffed by stretching out his arms, despite being told to put his hands behind his back, the detective testified. He said he considered using pepper spray, but decided against it because bystanders were nearby. Brown, 50, was taken into custody with the help of two other troopers and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Video footage played by the defense showed Brown grabbing at a trooper as she and others ran toward the shop. An unknown trooper pushes him in the chest and another appears to shove him from behind as he is engaged with another officer. Sanzi then flips Brown to the ground.

Defense lawyer Gary Pelletier questioned Sanzi’s recollection of seeing Brown struggling with and pushing officers. “From where I was standing that day that’s what I believe I saw — yes,” Sanzi said.

Pelletier used video to show Brown already cuffed and sitting by a tree three minutes into footage of the raid, contradicting Sanzi’s testimony that they struggled for about 5 minutes. Sanzi later said he wasn’t keeping track of time.

Under questioning by Chin, Sanzi said he turned his attention to a short male he later learned was 15-year-old Norman Gonsalves, who he saw whack then-Capt. Leo Messier in the face. He, Gonsalves, and Detective Douglas C. Newberg fell to the ground, Sanzi said, probably because his own ankle was injured. Sanzi said he held his hand on Gonsalves’ chest to keep him down. Throat holds are used only in a life or death scenario, he said.

Pelletier argued Newberg tripped Gonsalves and together Sanzi and Newberg forced him face-first onto the dirt. He produced video showing Sanzi holding him to the ground by his throat. Sanzi moved his hand to the chest within seconds.

Sanzi said he “didn’t plant anyone’s head in the dirt,” and did not intentionally make Gonsalves fall.

Gonsalves is the son of Bella Noka, who cried during parts of the testimony, and stepson of First Councilman Randy Noka, both on trial. Charges against Gonsalves were dismissed in Family Court, according to the attorney general’s office.

Lt. David Palmer concluded his second day of testimony. Under cross-examination by Kevin Bristow — who represents Thawn Harris, a tribal conservation officer facing charges — Palmer said the state police weren’t sure there would be resistance. “It was not a definite … but it was a possibility,” he said.

Asked why they didn’t execute the warrant at another time of day, when children and customers would not be around, Palmer said they wanted to be sure they caught people selling untaxed cigarettes. He wasn’t aware officers had already purchased cigarettes to secure the warrant.

No one, he said, was arrested for selling tax-free cigarettes during or after the raid, but he had assumed at the time summonses would be issued later.

It would have been risky, he said, for an officer to simply hand shop workers a summons. “You saw what happened,” he said, referring to the raid. Plus, they wanted the contraband.

kmulvane@projo.com