A Boston police officer was arraigned in Dorchester court today for allegedly trying to intimidate an internal-affairs investigator who'd had him placed on administrative leave for moving out of Boston before his union contract said he could. Read more
BPD Officer Christopher Curtis yesterday pleaded guilty to six charges related to the traffic ticket he sent to a motorist following a 2019 incident on I-93 in Stoneham - including a note daring the other driver to challenge the ticket and then lying to investigators about the whole thing - the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. Read more.
WBZ reports the woman was charged with vehicular homicide, manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatal crash in the death of Ofr. John O'Keefe.
WBZ reports an autopsy was completed yesterday on the body of BPD Ofr. John O'Keefe, who had apparently been outside the Canton house of people he knew for several hours on Saturday, but that officials declined to release results and said their investigation into his death continues. O'Keefe, who lived in Canton, had been on the force for 16 years.
A Massachusetts Appeals Court justice has order Boston not to carry out its Covid-19 vaccination mandate for city workers until she can review the situation. Read more.
Live Boston reports a vice president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association has resigned and other members are trying to recall the rest of the union's leadership over the way it quietly negotiated a Covid-19 vaccination agreement with the city, unlike the unions representing firefighters and police superior officers and detectives, which have gone to court and out on the street in protest over the upcoming vaccination mandate. Read more.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Locke says he agrees with unions representing firefighters and police superior officers and detectives that in terms of collective bargaining, Mayor Wu was wrong to unilaterally impose an absolute requirement that city workers get vaccinated against Covid-19 after her predecessor had signed agreements letting workers opposed to shots undergo weekly testing. Read more.
The unions that represent Boston firefighters, police detectives and police superior officers suddenly have major beef with the union that represents police rank and file over the best way to contest Mayor Wu's vaccine mandate, which goes into effect on Saturday. Read more.
In court filings this week, Boston officials say they ordered employees to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination not just to protect them, but to protect the public they serve. Read more.
Around 8:15 p.m. at Cummins Highway and Sycamore Street. At least three people, including a child and a police officer, transported to the hospital for observation, NBC Boston reports.
Mayor Wu today announced a committee to help her select a new permanent police commissioner, something Boston has not had for nearly a year now. Read more.
Unions representing Boston firefighters and Boston police superior officers and detectives say they are seeking a restraining order to block the city from mandating Covid-19 vaccinations without a contract agreement giving union members something in return for what they say is a change in working conditions. Read more.
A small but boisterous group of Boston first responders has come up with a way to protest Boston's impending vaccination requirement: Everybody files for exemptions the night before the mandate goes into effect, then when the city moves to terminate them, claim their vacation time so the city still has to pay them while adjudicating their claims - and forcing the city to hire expensive replacements. Read more.
WBUR reports Boston Police bought a $627,000 "cell site simulator," which can be used to secretly monitor cell-phone traffic from a specific cell tower, by dipping into a "civil forfeiture" fund from people accused of crimes. The fund is not part of the department's normal budget process, which means it never came up during the City Council's annual budget review.
A federal judge yesterday sentenced Bahram Gharony, 36, to two months in prison - and ordered him to pay $256,432 in restitution - for the way he ordered foreign-car parts and tools through Boston Police accounts and then sold them to private auto mechanics. Read more.
A federal jury yesterday awarded Donna Gavin, a lieutenant in the Boston Police Department, $2 million in lost wages and damages after agreeing that not only did her superior discriminate against her because of her gender, he retaliated against her after she filed a complaint with the state. Read more.
The patented case.
Four Boston police officers who formed a company to sell cases that officers can use to more easily carry doses of Narcan spray are now battling in two courts over who should profit from the company's sales. Read more.
WBUR talks to Al Copeland of Mattapan about his case, which Boston settled last year by paying him and his wife $1.3 million.
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