Victoria Arocho, a former Associated Press photographer, testifies at the trial of seven Narragansett Indians in Superior Court yesterday.

The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy

PROVIDENCE — Jurors yesterday heard a vastly different account of the state police raid on a tax-free smoke shop opened by the Narragansett Indian tribe in 2003 when the first tribal member took the stand in Superior Court.

Tribal Administrator Anthony Dean Stanton testified that officers stormed onto tribal land in Charlestown, pushing and shoving people aside as the state police executed a search and seizure warrant in July 2003. His testimony came in the 14th day of trial for seven Narragansett Indians accused of resisting and scuffling with the police during the raid.

Prior to yesterday, only the state police have testified in the trial, describing tribal members resisting and struggling with them as they tried to execute the warrant.

Stanton learned at a tribal assembly meeting the tribe would open the smoke shop as a money-making venture, and worked with others to clear the land and set up the roadside trailer on South County Trail, he said. He was aware Governor Carcieri opposed its opening, but said he didn’t know why.

The tribe began selling cigarettes without charging Rhode Island taxes, against the governor’s wishes, on July 12, 2003.

Around noon two days later, Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas told him the state police might be on their way. Thomas instructed him, Stanton said, that the tribe would shut the store down if they received a federal cease and desist order. There was no mention of how the tribe would respond to an order issued by a state court.

Stanton was among a number of Narragansetts standing roadside as state police arrived. About 15 to 20 officers stormed the parking lot, he said, running into people as they went. He heard three Narragansetts, including Thomas, ask officers for paperwork. “I never heard a response,” he said.

At Carcieri’s orders, the state police executed a search and seizure warrant issued by state District Court to stop the tribe from selling tax-free cigarettes. The raid turned into a scuffling match. Seven Narragansetts were arrested on charges that include resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and assault.

Federal courts have ruled the state police had the authority to execute the search warrant and seize the cigarettes on tribal land. The tribe had argued its sovereign immunity as a federally recognized Indian nation entitled it to sell the tax-free cigarettes.

A trooper stampeded into tribal conservation officer Thawn Harris, Stanton said. Another pushed Tribal Councilman John Brown.

Stanton said he was standing at the top of the shop stairs when “a little lady” trooper stumbled and got her arm stuck in the door as screaming and yelling went on inside. Councilman Hiawatha Brown helped him secure the door as he pulled her arm free while someone tugged it from within, he said.

Stanton described landing on two male customers after troopers threw him down the stairs. When he focused again, he saw three or four officers grabbing Hiawatha, who was then taken face down to the ground where a police dog bit him.

He said he asked why people were being treated this way? Why dogs? “I never heard a response.”

The officer with the dog, Detective Kevin Barry, pushed Thomas, who was then tackled by three or four officers, he said. Tribal member Bella Noka, too, tried to protect herself after being pushed and pulled to the ground.

Officers brought Noka’s son to the ground and struggled with her daughter, both teenagers. “I said ‘these are just children and what are you doing?’ ” he said. “I never got a response.”

In response to questioning from Special Assistant Attorney General Pamela Chin, Stanton said he didn’t see John Brown try to grab a trooper as she ran past him. Nor did he see Harris or First Councilman Randy Noka, Bella’s husband, push officers.

News footage of the raid played repeatedly throughout the trial has shown tribal members and the state police grappling as officers come onto tribal property.

Stanton insisted a female trooper fell and got her arm stuck in the shop door, though clips have shown the trooper apparently placing her arm in the door as it was being shut and Hiawatha Brown then leaning against it.

Asked if he saw Noka’s son strike a trooper before being brought to the ground, Stanton said no. He also did not recall John Brown resisting an officer pushing him from behind toward a cruiser. Video clips have shown Brown standing firm as troopers try to lead him away when he is approached by Thomas.

Stanton said most disputes with the state are settled in federal court, but agreed that people arrested on tribal land are often brought to the state police barracks.

Former Associated Press photographer Victoria Arocho echoed some of Stanton’s observations, saying an onslaught of officers came onto the land and that tribal members held their hands up “like, no, this is tribal land.”

Her attention was drawn to Bella Noka who was screaming in pain on the ground under Lt. Robert Mackisey, who wore “a crazy look on his face,” she said. Noka’s sister yelled that Noka was pregnant. Mackisey testified that Noka spit and kicked him as he tried to arrest her. Arocho said she did not see Noka spit.

Under questioning by Special Assistant Attorney General Maria Deaton, Arocho agreed that she didn’t know what had happened prior to her arrival.

The trial resumes Tuesday.

kmulvane@projo.com