The mother of Stephanie McMahon, found beaten to death in her River Street apartment in 2014, is asking a judge to find the city of Boston responsible for her death, because, she alleges, the two Boston police officers who responded to her daughter's apartment and removed her violent ex-boyfriend failed to lock him up, which let him return the next day and beat her to death.
In her lawsuit, Marilyn Barresi charges that officers Robert Boyle and William Hubbard almost went out of their way not to do anything about Randall Tremblay after her daughter called 911 to report he was trying to beat her in the head with a stick early on Nov. 16.
While they did put him in their cruiser and drove him to Shattuck Hospital, they never checked to see if McMahon had a restraining order against him - which would have let them arrest him for violating it - and when they got to Shattuck Hospital, they let him out outside rather than bringing him inside for an evaluation, Barresi charges. Police had initially said the officers checked Tremblay into a detox center there.
This only emboldened Tremblay and he returned the next day and beat McMahon to death, Barresi charges, calling the officers "grossly negligent."
Barresi is seeking unspecified damages. She originally filed her complaint in Suffolk Superior Court on April 11.
Yesterday, the city had the case transferred to federal court in Boston because of the due-process issues Barresi raises. The city has yet to otherwise respond to the case.
Tremblay has yet to come to trial for McMahon's murder because of appeals in his case.
After a Suffolk Superior Court judge ruled that prosecutors could not use statements he'd made to police investigators because he was too drunk at the time to understand he was waiving his Miranda Rights not to speak, Suffolk County prosecutors appealed.
Last September, the Massachusetts Appeals Court agreed with prosecutors and allowed his statements to be used as evidence, saying that while Tremblay was drunk during his interview, video showed he was aware enough to understand what was going on and being asked of him - and to waive his right to stay silent.
Tremblay's lawyer then appealed that ruling to the Supreme Judicial Court. That court has set May 10 for oral arguments.
Innocent, etc.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Complete complaint | 371.28 KB |
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Comments
This saddens me. Definitely
By anon
Wed, 04/18/2018 - 4:47pm
This saddens me. Definitely could have been prevented.
Really?
By Anon
Wed, 04/18/2018 - 5:44pm
Why doesn't she sue the judges instead? They're the ones who ensure every violent criminal gets at least 69,743,774,378,846 second chances before they get locked up.
Here's an idea
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 04/18/2018 - 8:52pm
Why doesn't the mom sue anonymous commentators infected with whataboutism?
Lazy or Incompetent
By anon
Wed, 04/18/2018 - 6:01pm
Either way these two officers should have been suspended or fired. They also lied about taking Tremblay into the detox unit. What else did they lie about? Tell me they were disciplined.
Bad police work, sure, but
By anon
Wed, 04/18/2018 - 7:43pm
Bad police work, sure, but don't see how the city is liable for someone else's criminal behavior.
Because the cops did not do their job
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 04/18/2018 - 8:54pm
That's why.
It is their job to check on warrants and on restraining orders.
It is their job to arrest and charge those who violate restraining orders.
It is their job to truthfully represent what they did with a man who was violently attacking a woman in defiance of a restraining order, and account for their releasing him like a buddy or misunderstood bro and not lying about "rehab".
That simple.
to answer the question of
By anon
Thu, 04/19/2018 - 12:09am
to answer the question of liability in a case like this one, start with balisteri v pacifica. people suing for failure to protect tend to lose.
More than failure to protect
By anon
Thu, 04/19/2018 - 1:14pm
This was a failure to follow the basic duties of their jobs, and then a failure of BPD to take them to account for it.
I have no
By Luke Warm
Wed, 04/18/2018 - 9:16pm
particular opinions about our local police other than they have on a few occasions been kind and lenient with me over an extremely minor traffic issue on two occasions. Yes, one might argue that it helps that I am a tall white dude--there is plenty of evidence that an argument like that has merit. I am sure different communities in Boston have different experiences with police; but I can easily see that the attitude of other residents as it is reflected in the news and in print is basically positive, with the occasional caveat. Just my two sense not worth more
I think though that coming out of the stone ages, we might as well recognize the truth that significantly better training involving both tactics and self-esteem building is needed for police nation wide. I think that in too many occasions, the cops and the criminals are basically the same characters on different teams. The cops are the characters who know most of the time how not to "f up," and the criminals are the characters who don't know how not to "f up." Seems like sometimes they empathize with each in weird ways. That's unnecessary. Clearly the vibe and culture is what reigns, and not "people knowing how to do the right thing." Knowing the right thing is easily undermined in negative cultures.
In other words: gee, I hope they were disciplined.
Was there a restraining order?
By merlinmurph
Thu, 04/19/2018 - 8:03am
It isn't clear if there was a restraining order.
Just curious.
Yes
By Cranky
Thu, 04/19/2018 - 9:16am
There was. McMahon told the officers there was, but they didn't bother do do anything with that information.
See Globe article: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/11/05/police...
Yes there was a restraining
By anon
Thu, 10/04/2018 - 11:35am
Yes there was a restraining order. Not only was there an order, but the dispatcher who is also under investigation downgraded the call so the officers did not have to do a report. On so many levels this is a reflection of policing as a whole. Can you imagine a sex offender of color, drunk, belligerent and having a history of violence not only not being arrested, but then he is essentially given a ride down the street. Because they did not even care to walk him into the hospital so that part of the story holds no merit because do we believe that he walked himself inside. And lets not forget the officer boyle has over 22 complaints in his career, and six were substantiated. Officer Hubbard has 3 complaints including this one. I wont event mention that one of those complaints for each officer had to do with the death of a person. Overall this was reflective of the broken system which allows little to no accountability or oversight for representatives of one of the most important professions in our society.
disgusting
By mr
Thu, 04/19/2018 - 12:00pm
This makes me mad! What are the laws for is the cops do not follow them!
I had a friend who was killed by her husband. To just leave him outside and not check for a restraining order~!
This applies if is was a female beating on a guy also!
Hugs to the family and I hope it all works out!
Still Working??
By my 2 cents
Thu, 04/19/2018 - 12:31pm
According to the public payroll records, Hubbard is still working. How???? This city is so corrupt!
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