Local
Providence police body-camera footage captures basement arrest in stabbing case
Video released this week shows officers entering a Daboll Street home and taking Nelson Blanco into custody after the Oct. 7 stabbing of a mother and her 2-year-old daughter. The child remains hospitalized, while the mother has been released.
Providence police body-camera footage shows officers forcing open a basement door before arresting Nelson Blanco, who is accused of stabbing a mother and her 2-year-old daughter in the city on Oct. 7.
The video, made public Friday, shows an officer responding to a home on Daboll Street after witnesses reported Blanco had run inside. People at the house told the officer Blanco was in the basement and described his appearance, according to the footage.
Officers surrounded the home. One entered with a gun drawn and went toward the basement. When they found the door locked, officers tried to remove its hinges with scissors before breaking the door open. An officer carrying a ballistic shield moved to the front of the group as officers called for Blanco to empty his pockets and come out with his hands raised.
Blanco came up the stairs backward, with a bloody bandage visible on his right hand. Officers took him to the floor and handcuffed him.
Blanco was scheduled to appear in court Thursday for a competency hearing, but the hearing was postponed. He is being held as a bail violator on separate charges, according to the report.
The 2-year-old remains in the hospital. Her mother was released several days after the attack. An online fundraiser for the child had collected more than $60,000, the report said.
Blanco is accused in the stabbing; the allegations have not been proven in court.