PROVIDENCE –– A man who suffered a head injury while being arrested has filed a brutality complaint against a Providence police officer.

Deputy Chief Paul Kennedy confirmed that Luis Mendoza, 20, filed the complaint about a week ago. However, Kennedy said department had begun an internal review when Mendoza was arrested on Oct. 20 because an officer used force.

Any time an officer uses force while apprehending someone, the Providence Police Department’s internal affairs unit conducts an investigation, Kennedy said. The deputy chief wouldn’t say what type of force was used, citing the ongoing investigation.

The name of the officer being investigated has not been released and does not appear in the Providence police report. Kennedy said the officer remains on duty during the investigation.

The Oct. 20 incident began just before 7:30 p.m., when a monitor at RISD’s Mandle Building, at 15 Westminster St., called the college police about a suspicious man trying to get into dormitories.

The monitor told the police that the man fit the description of someone suspected in a larceny at the building before, according to the log kept by RISD’s Department of Public Safety.

When the man fled, he assaulted RISD officers Justin Wall and William LaPierre, who chased him behind the attorney general’s office on South Main Street, according to records kept by RISD and the Providence police.

The chase was broadcast over the police radio, and a Providence officer on patrol pulled behind the attorney general’s office, where he saw someone running through the brush, according to the Providence police report. The Providence police joined the chase, running over a ledge and into a parking lot, where the man tried to hide under a vehicle and crawl out the other side, the Providence police report said.

More officers arrived. After a struggle, the man was handcuffed and taken to Rhode Island Hospital. He was identified as Mendoza and charged with two counts of simple assault.

Mendoza was treated and released from Rhode Island Hospital, but it was unknown how long he was there or the extent of his injuries. A hospital spokeswoman said there was no record of Mendoza. Calls to Mendoza’s cell phone were not returned.

amilkovi@projo.com