It will really choke you up....
"Former Transit Police officer charged in assault" by John R. Ellement Globe Staff January 07, 2016
A former MBTA Transit Police officer has been indicted on assault and civil rights violations charges for a 2014 incident in which she allegedly attacked a woman she was arresting at Dudley Square Station.
Jennifer Amyot-Garvey is to be arraigned Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, civil rights violations with injury, and two counts of filing a false report by a public employee.
Amyot-Garvey was indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury last month after an investigation by the Suffolk district attorney’s office that was sparked by a civil lawsuit filed by Mary Celeste Holmes with the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union.
In the lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Boston in August, Holmes alleged that Amyot-Garvey pepper-sprayed her after Holmes told Amyot-Garvey to stop yelling at another woman at Dudley Square Station in Roxbury on March 26, 2014.
Holmes, in court papers, said that she asked Amyot-Garvey for her badge number and tried to call 911 to get more police officers to the scene when her phone was knocked out of her hand. Holmes said Amyot-Garvey doused her with pepper spray, hit her with a baton, and then arrested her.
Prosecutors dropped the charges against Holmes four months later.
A second Transit Police officer, Alfred Trinh, participated in Holmes’s arrest, and is also being sued by Holmes. In court papers, Trinh and Amyot-Garvey have denied they violated Holmes’s First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights.
Video released of the incident appeared to show the officers struggling with Holmes and Amyot-Garvey swinging her baton at Holmes.
An attorney for Amyot-Garvey could not be reached for comment.
“We allege that the use of force in this case was unnecessary, excessive, and violated the victim’s civil rights. She was assaulted, arrested, and wrongly charged. ... The vast majority of police officers in Boston and Suffolk County use their authority to protect the public and serve the community, but when the use of force rises to criminal conduct it must be charged and prosecuted,” Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement.
Trinh took no part in Amyot-Garvey’s alleged crimes and cooperated with the investigation, said the Suffolk district attorney’s spokesman Jake Wark. Trinh is not facing charges and remains on active duty, officials said.
Jessie L. Rossman and Carl Williams, two ACLU attorneys representing Holmes, applauded prosecutors for bringing charges. They also said Holmes should be credited for her decision to stand up to police.
“The fact that it has gone from a civilian facing criminal charges to a police officer facing criminal charges is a credit to Mary Holmes and all those who are standing up to hold police officers accountable for their actions,’’ Rossman said.
The attorneys also suggested that officials should look more deeply into Trinh’s actions, saying that the video appears to show him restraining Holmes while she is being hit by Amyot-Garvey.
“The person who is holding someone who is being hit clearly would be responsible for the harm they caused,’’ Carl Williams said.
Both Amyot-Garvey and Trinh were exonerated after an internal affairs investigation by the Transit Police in 2014. But Superintendent Richard Sullivan, a Transit Police spokesman, said Thursday the department had reopened its inquiry in the wake of the lawsuit.
“Transit Police are committed to be transparent, responsible and accountable to those we serve daily,’’ Sullivan said.
Sullivan said his department had cooperated with Suffolk prosecutors during the investigation that led to the charges against Amyot-Garvey.
Amyot-Garvey was fired by the department on Dec. 28, but not for her alleged role in the assault on Holmes. Instead, Sullivan said, she was fired after being arrested for allegedly brandishing a weapon at her wife, Transit Police Officer Ann Garvey, in their Wilmington home a year ago.
Must be where they met.
Amyot-Garvey has pleaded not guilty in that Woburn District Court case.
Separately, Amyot-Garvey is being prosecuted in Wrentham District Court for assault and battery and disorderly conduct after she allegedly punched a woman while she was in a temporary holding cell at Gillette Stadium. She was scheduled to appear in the Wrentham courthouse Thursday. She has pleaded not guilty.
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Looks like she will be taking a bus ride to the big house.
OMG, I'm going to miss my train:
"Couple escape injury as bullets fly" by Andy Rosen Globe Staff January 07, 2016
An errant bullet struck the car of a retired couple driving through Dorchester to get breakfast Thursday morning as a shooter chased another man down a busy residential street while firing several shots, authorities and witnesses said.
The incident took place around 11:10 a.m., according to police. The couple said they had been heading to an IHOP when gunfire pierced the front end of their economy sedan.
The episode also disrupted Red Line service at Shawmut Station, where Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials held a train for about 20 minutes as police searched for the shooter. No arrests were reported.
In the neighborhood of Victorian-style homes bounded by the commercial strip of Washington Street, residents said they were familiar with the sound of gunfire. One man said he heard six to seven shots Thursday morning....
Didn't have to hurry as much as I thought I did.
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“It’s an unfortunate fact of life, not just here, but anywhere.”
Well, that's not really true and I've been told Bo$ton is safer than ever.
UPDATE:
Three teens killed in East Boston since Sept.
Ex-MBTA officer arraigned on assault charges
