"Man who killed Acushnet school nurse in 1993 now charged with assaulting elderly father" by John R. Ellement Globe Staff May 26, 2017
An Acushnet man found not guilty by reason of insanity in the death of a school nurse in 1993 is now charged with beating his 88-year-old father and later driving head-on into an Acushnet police cruiser as officers tried to arrest him.
David E. Taber appeared Friday in New Bedford District Court on multiple charges, including assault and battery on a disabled person over the age of 60, resisting arrest, witness intimidation, and assault with a dangerous weapon.
The 66-year-old Taber was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing requested by Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III, who took the unusual step of handling a district court arraignment.
According to spokesman Gregg Miliote, Quinn was the trial prosecutor in the early 1990s when Taber was charged with murder and multiple other offenses. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity for murder, but convicted of arson and other charges that kept him imprisoned until Dec. 2015, according to court records.
“It’s a case I’ll never forget. Mr. Taber suffered a major mental illness, and I still think he should be in custody,’’ Quinn said in a statement in 2015 when Taber was freed from prison.
In April 1993, Taber set his father’s home in Fairhaven on fire and then made his way to Acushnet. There, he went into the Ford Middle School armed with a shotgun and shot and killed school nurse Carole A. Day. He was disarmed by then-principal John A. Tavares who wrestled the weapon away from Taber before he could reach a classroom, the Globe reported in 1993....
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