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Police: West Roxbury man with shotgun goes on blocks-long rampage after being asked to move SUV blocking entrance to Roche Bros.
By adamg on Tue, 11/20/2018 - 11:39pm
UPDATE: Ordered held without bail pending a hearing on Nov. 29.
Boston Police report arresting a West Roxbury man they say almost ran down a detail cop, then went on a high-speed rampage through the streets of West Roxbury and Roslindale before crashing into a light pole on the other side of Roslindale Square.
Michael Robicheau, 57, was charged with refusing to stop for a police officer, driving to endanger, operating with a revoked license, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon (car) and leaving the scene of a property-damage crash, police say. He was also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition for the loaded 12-gauge shotgun police say officers found in the front seat of his SUV.
According to police, Robicheau parked his car in front of the crowded store in its normally congested parking lot around 1:30 p.m.
In a show of good will, instead of issuing a written citation and towing the vehicle, the officer entered the store and asked store employees to use the in-store public address system to ask the owner of the car to move the vehicle. In short time, the owner exited the store and returned to his vehicle. When the officer approached the operator to make him aware of the fact that a citation could have been written, the operator ignored the officer, jumped into his vehicle and took off at a high rate of speed while almost striking the officer.
The officer broadcast a description of the vehicle, which other officers soon learned was on South Street out of the Arboretum heading towards Washington Street:
While en route to that location, officers were informed that the suspect had struck several cars while fleeing the area. Officers were able to locate the suspect after he struck a vehicle and then a light pole in the area of Bexley Road in Roslindale. After a brief struggle, officers were able to take the suspect into custody.
Innocent, etc.
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Comments
Thankful for BPD
This year I’m thankful we have the best officers in the country trying their best to keep our streets safe. It has been a violet year there is no denying that, but the police can only do so much with casings and bullet fragments. I hope that under the new commissioner the city will collectively step up to take back their neighborhoods from this violence. Ironic posting this on a westie shooting post but the point remains same. We as a city and collective group of people deserve better from each other and our community
The cops encourage this
The cops encourage this criminal behavior when they refuse to ticket lawless drivers. This driver brazenly broke the law and instead of just doing their job and upholding the law by ticketing and towing the driver the cop went in and bothered the store employees. Why are criminal drivers coddled like this? Treat them like spoiled children and they will act like spoiled children. Ticket and tow. Its not hard.
Somebody slap you with an idiot stick this morning?
You really think somebody with a loaded shotgun on the front seat - allegedly, of course - who is blocking the front entrance of Roche Bros. would not have exploded had he come out to see his car being towed away?
Plus, towing a car from that exact spot is no easy thing - go ahead, I challenge you to visit the Roche Bros. parking lot today - and the store employees would have been far more bothered by the chaos that would have ensued in the time it would take for a tow driver to hook up the SUV and get it ready to be towed away, causing even more gridlock than usual there, even assuming the guy didn't come out and start rampaging all on his own right there in the front of the store, with tons of vulnerable people for him to knock out or down to the ground in his rage.
The cop, in addition to just trying to do a guy a favor, was actually doing the smart thing by having the store page the guy - had he not been, allegedly, nuts, the SUV would have been moved in far less time than it would take to tag and tow the car - an important thing at that store two days before Thanksgiving. I mean, did you maybe stop to wonder why Roche Bros. had a detail cop yesterday? It's not because it's in a high-crime neighborhood.
Someone whapped you with a bad hair day stick, then
Seriously, Adam - the cops did a stupid. They should have towed the damn thing!
And, yes, they contribute to this behavior by not writing tickets and giving bad drivers and entitled assholes any and every bit of leeway because CAR. They used to do the same with wife beaters, too.
It's OK ...
To admit you've never been to that store two days before a holiday.
That's my Roche's
and yeah, calling on the PA is a MUCH better/faster/generally low-escalation solution than calling and waiting for a tow truck in that nightmare of a parking lot.
well..
I don't think it matters much whether the car was towed. However if the officer walked up to the car to write the ticket, he would have seen the shotgun on the front seat. He would have run the plate and the registered owner and perhaps have prevented him from getting back into the car. I think the officer behaved normally. Some mentally ill people are seeking confrontation.
Admit?
Sorry, I PLAN AHEAD TO AVOID IT.
It really, really doesn't take much.
You've never read Kinopio's postings, I assume
When you posted this article, several of us independently pondered when he was going to post an anti-car comment and the form it would take. I would imagine that he thought long and hard before deciding that his answer was to question why the cops didn't just tow the car.
In a bit of irony, I would claim that it was not up to the cop to call in a tow. It's private property, so it would have been up to Roche Brothers to get a tow truck. That said, save one person everyone did their best to deescalate the situation. Were the driver not a hothead, we would have never heard about this. My guess is that the guy stopped in to grab some romaine lettuce and was all worked up by the lack of stock in the store. Heck, he probably stopped at Whole Foods and Wegmans, too, each stop causing his blood pressure to spike. Or he's a sociopath.
Ah yes, the old “the cops put
Ah yes, the old “the cops put that shotgun in his front seat because they didn’t cite someone for speeding once” argument.
You do realize that under the mass general auto laws, it reads that the point of traffic enforcement isn’t to be punitive, but to encourage voluntary compliance, correct?
I’ve written 7 tickets myself this week, all warnings because I sincerely thought the people made an earnest mistake, were polite and owned up to their infraction.
Anyway, I hope you have a terrible Thanksgiving. You’re so full of anger and rage, there’s no doubt in my mind you will.
- a Boston cop
Thank you Sir
The vast majority of us appreciate the excellent work BPD does. You guys are some of the best trained in the country. You're abilities to de escalate incidents is paramount. I'm always amazed at the skill and restraint you guys(and girls) use when dealing with gun violence. You rarely have to escalate to opening fire in situations that easily could warrant that use of force. Keep up the good work brother and Happy Holidays. Be safe. Head on a swivel brother.
Toms and Hens, Sirs and Ma'ams, or
How about just plain old respectful, officer?
Women are adults
Girls are children
Guys has been accepted as gender neutral-ish - still evolving
To the anons who insist on keeping themselves just a wee part of the borg:
At least pick out a 'nym, anons 1- infinity. Generic anon isn't really a nice thing to do here - pretty lazy. Adam does a lot of investigating, fact checking and reporting and hosts this very eclectic, sometimes erudite, always energizing web site. Just ID yourself as a separate entity from all of the other turkeys in the crow, willya pretty please?
Can’t ticket or tow.
Roche brothers can tow it, but it’s private property.
No ticket?
What about those reprobates that park in the handicapped parking spots in parking lots like this (as opposed to public parking lots?) Same thing with fire lanes, which is where I am assuming the car was parked. What about them?
You love the attention
You yuppie garbage
West Roxbury Man
Is that a local sub-species of Florida Man?
To be fair
every time I go there I feel like Michael Douglas in ' Falling Down'.
Simple remedy
Don't go there.
Otherwise, shop after 3 or 4 on a weekend day, or as close to closing time on a weekday as reasonable.
Overblown fears
I was just there. It was fine. The registers were all well staffed, the parking lot was only slightly fuller than usual, it was all 100% NBD.
Gee, thanks.
Can't even make a joke without the condescending assholes coming out.
Well, Actually ...
n/t
He parked? Oh that takes balls
As someone who frequents that store, I can tell you that people do occasionally pause right out front to drop someone off or, more rarely, to pick up a shopper and their groceries. I have NEVER seen someone park right there and run in. The guy had to be on something to pull that kind of nonsense. It's just not done!
(I wonder if he needed some Natty Ice.)
Well he did have a loaded 12
Well he did have a loaded 12-gauge in the passenger seat so clearly there is something wrong with him!
Just like yesterday
What a moron. How do you just lose the gun over parking in front of a (expletive) supermarket? And he's 57 too! How long did he have the gun for to just lose it like that?
And, of course, since they've already been invented, and since they're still manufactured, he can simply get another one. I know some folks who have firearms and go their entire lives without being jerks or dolts. Unfortunately, a not-insignificant percentage of gun (expletives) make the entire exercise of gun possession look futile.
"Why don't we dump 'em people to to the bottom of the sea, before some old fool come around here, want to shoot either you or me..." - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Happy Thanksgiving!
My neighbor
This guy is my neighbor and lives with his parents a few houses away. When it snows overnight, he drives up and down the street and round and round the block in a souped-up black pickup with a big yellow plow and deafening "performance" exhaust pipes, revving the motor and needlessly plowing for hours. And keeping the neighborhood awake. I once got up at 3AM and went outside to yell at him to stop. It was clear from then that he had some kind of mental health issues, but I've since had a few other, more benign, interactions with him, and he always seemed harmless. So I was pretty freaked out when I read about this - especially the shotgun. Of course I'll be calling the BPD to handle any future concerns, assuming he returns. Man, you just never know.