"Dorchester man charged with assault Boston police officers" by Brian Ballou |
Globe Staff, September 14, 2012
A Dorchester man who had recently finished serving a prison sentence
for assaulting a Boston police officer allegedly tried to grab an
officer’s handgun during a fierce fight early Friday morning that left
the officer with serious injuries, including a torn ear.
“My concern is that this man who has been recently released from
state prison and has given no respite, he has hit the ground running
with criminal activity,” said Dorchester District Court Judge Franco
Gobourne, as he considered arguments Friday for Calvin Horne’s bail,
at his arraignment.
Horne, 26 — who has a six-page criminal history of drug, assault, and
firearms charges — was pulled over for speeding at 1:37 a.m. near the
intersection of Colonial Avenue and Millet Street in Dorchester,
according to police.
Officers were monitoring the area due to a recent dramatic increase in firearm-related violence.
According to a police report, Horne recognized the officer from an
incident when he was arrested in 2008 for carrying a loaded firearm and
more than 50 rocks of crack cocaine. During that incident, Horne
attempted to flee, and a round discharged from a gun he was holding.
When Horne was stopped Friday morning, he immediately became nervous,
according to the report, and that intensified when the officer walked
toward the trunk of the green 2000 Acura Horne was driving.
“I just got out three weeks ago. . . . I was locked up for years
behind that. . . . I just want to get back to my girl,” Horne allegedly
told the officer.
When the officer went to open the trunk, Horne grew agitated. The
officer left the car and walked Horne across the street, where he
signaled to his partner to handcuff Horne, the report said.
That was when Horne started throwing punches, hitting the two
officers repeatedly in the face and body, according to the report, and
slamming them against parked cars and to the ground.
Horne pulled on the ear of the officer he had recognized, tearing the
lobe partially off and ripping a portion of the ear canal, according to
the report. He tried to bite the officer, the report said, leaving a
bite mark on the officer’s arm that did not break skin. That officer
also sustained a cut to his head from being slammed to the curb.
Horne, who has a muscular build at 6 feet 1 inch tall and 220 pounds,
according to the report, broke away several times and tried to return
to the Acura.
The officers, thinking Horne had a firearm in the trunk, chased and
tackled him, eventually pepper-spraying him. He allegedly tried to grab
the gun of the officer he had recognized, but the officer managed to
stop him before he could get it out of the holster, the report said.
Horne fought so fiercely that the officers could not handcuff him or call for backup, according to the report.
After 10 minutes, other officers in the area drove by and saw the
commotion, and Horne was subdued and arrested, according to the report.
In the scuffle, Horne’s hat, shoes and shirt came off. A bag
containing 26 individually wrapped chunks of cocaine was found nearby,
the report said, and in the trunk, police found a 9mm handgun, loaded
with 9 bullets, one in the chamber.
John Hightower, Horne’s attorney, pleaded not guilty on his client’s
behalf and said that the pepper-spray impaired the vision of everyone
involved, to the point that the officers probably could not see who they
were fighting.
Assistant Suffolk prosecutor Mike DiStefano said Horne would be
prosecuted as a career criminal, which carries a 15-year mandatory
minimum sentence.
Horne was sentenced in 2009 to serve three to four years in prison
for possession of firearms and possession with intent to distribute a
Class B substance. He was also convicted of assault and battery on a
police officer, which drew a two-year sentence that ran concurrently.
Horne was charged last month in Boston Municipal Court with various
drug offenses and was free on bail when he was arrested Friday. His bail
on the drug charges was revoked, and he was held without bail.
Horne was charged Friday with assault and battery on a police
officer, aggravated assault and battery, and firearms, drug, and motor
vehicle offenses. His bail was set at $70,000, and he was scheduled to
return to court Oct. 5 for a probable cause hearing.
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