A decision last week by the New Hampshire attorney general’s office to bring simple assault charges against two police officers in connection with the high-speed chase that ended in Nashua on May 11 sends a strong message.

The message, which should be heard by both the public and the law-enforcement community, is that those who enforce the law are not above it when the evidence against them is strong.

The public was outraged by what they saw on video captured by television news helicopters when a pickup truck driven by Richard Simone Jr., came to a stop on Brigham Street: The video appears to show an unarmed Simone submitting to arrest and showing his hands as he attempted to place them on the ground.

Then, New Hampshire State Police trooper Andrew Monacoand Trooper Joseph Flynn of the Massachusetts State Police struck Simone about 22 times in 20 seconds as he lay prone on the pavement, according to the AG’s investigation.

As they did, one officer on scene yelled at them to go "easy," the court file states.

Both troopers have been suspended from their respective agencies.

The investigation found that as "there is no evidence to show that Simone was actively resisting, there has been nothing uncovered that would warrant or justify the level of force used upon Mr. Simone."

Three things, specifically, should engender public confidence in the system. First, the affidavits indicate that officers on the scene didn’t try to make excuses for their colleagues’ behavior.

"None of the officers interviewed … articulated any reason for the amount of force used by Trooper Monaco and Trooper Flynn nor did they indicate that Simone was actively resisting," wrote AG investigator Todd Flanagan. "No officers interviewed ever saw a weapon before, during or after the arrest," he added.

Another point worth noting about the AG’s decision to bring charges is that prosecutors didn’t go easy on the troopers. Instead, the state will seek enhanced penalties if the troopers are convicted. As a result, instead of facing up to a year in county jail and fines, as is standard for Class A misdemeanors, the troopers are facing two to five years in state prison because state law allows enhanced penalties for offenses committed by on-duty law enforcement officers.

The third item worth noting is that, of the nine officers on the scene, seven of them cond ucted themselves like professionals, including several from the Nashua Police Department.

"Based on what I’ve seen from the initial video and the AG’s office not charging anybody from my department, that just bolsters my confidence that my officers acted according to their training and our policies and procedures," Nashua Police Chief Andrew Lavoie told The Telegraph’s Kathryn Marchocki.

According to the court file, immediately after the incident, Monaco told a fellow officer at the scene that "I just ruined my life."

As far as his career in lawenforcement goes, that may prove to be the case, though we hope Monaco and Flynn can eventually get past this ugly incident and go on to realize their considerable potential, regardless of the field in which they end up working.

We would have rather it not happened at all, but because we saw what we saw, the AG’s decision not only sends a message; it sends the right one.