CHICOPEE - A Springfield police officer was denied a criminal complaint against a woman who videotaped him standing by as a colleague allegedly brutally beat a black motorist with a flashlight during a traffic stop in 2009.

Tyrisha Greene, 29, of Springfield, was summonsed to Chicopee District Court Wednesday for a hearing to explore whether an illegal wiretapping charge against her was warranted - at officer Michael Sedergren's request.

Sedergren filed an application for a criminal charge against Greene for videotaping the Nov. 27, 2009, alleged beating of Melvin Jones III, through her window on Rifle Street.

State law prevents secret audiotaping. However, there must be an expectation of privacy to fall within the law, according to Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni.

Assistant Clerk Magistrate Joanne M. McCarthy rejected the application after a short closed-door hearing. The Republican unsuccessfully petitioned to open the hearing to the public. McCarthy denied the petition based on Sedergren’s objection, according to those present.

Sedergren was among a group of white officers who stood by as now-retired and now-fired Patrolman Jeffrey M. Asher apparently bludgeoned Jones with his police-issued flashlight, according to witnesses.

The police report stated Jones, who had a criminal record that has continued to grow since the incident, grabbed one of the officer’s gun. There has never been evidence to substantiate that during court proceedings thus far, however.

Sedergren declined to comment outside the hearing.

Jones said during a previous interview that he tried to wheel away from Asher after Asher grabbed him roughly by the back of his pants after police pulled over his cousin’s car in which he was a passenger. Asher and his lawyer has argued he only used enough force to subdue Jones during the stop.

Medical records state nearly every bone in Jones’ face was broken, teeth were knocked out and he was left partially blinded in one eye.

Asher was charged criminally in connection with the incident; he also was fired a day after he received a stress-related disability pension from the state. Sedergren and two other officers involved were suspended over the alleged beating. No criminal charges were filed against them.

Jones ducked drug charges related to the traffic stop, but since that arrest he has been charged with shoplifting, domestic assault and cocaine trafficking in separate cases. He is being held without the right to bail.

Greene, whose lawyer said she has so far refused to give any statements, said the complaint Sedergren filed was misguided and based on a faulty interpretation of the wiretapping statute.

“We expected a fair hearing and we received one,” Daniel D. Kelly said outside the courtroom on Wednesday. “We felt as though there was no evidence against Ms. Greene for wiretapping.”

Had McCarthy opted to issue the complaint, Mastroianni said he likely would not have prosecuted the case at any rate.

“I’m leaving the door open if there is more evidence presented to me, but as I understand the facts now, this case falls far short of the wiretapping statute,” he said.

MacAnthony Mack, 41, was visiting Greene at her home the night she shot the video out her window into the darkness with a video camera that was brand new to her.

Greene provided an animated, expletive-filled soundtrack to the film as the scene unfolded, while Mack predicted on the tape that it would be a “Rodney King” incident soon after the officers and Jones poured into the frame.

Mack also received a summons in late July to face a wiretapping charge sought by Sedergren. McCarthy rejected that application as well.

“The area it was in, the lighting .¤.¤. the number and color of the officers. It was just a recipe for disaster,” said Mack, who sat outside the hearing on Wednesday to learn its outcome.

Jones has a federal civil rights lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court. That complaint alleges that Sedergren kicked Jones in the groin and back during the incident and called him a racial expletive.

Kelly said Greene may reconsider her previous inclination to avoid statements to law enforcement.

“These continued hearings don’t help matters,” Kelly said.