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Gotterdammerung on Congress Street: Man yelling about end times punches cop in face, police say

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Boston Police report an Everett man began punching an officer in the face around 2 a.m. New Year's Day - and then began screaming about the end of the world as other officers rushed to restrain him.

According to police, the incident happened in front of the City Hall garage on Congress Street:

A male walking on Congress Street crossed in front of the officer's cruiser, approached the open driver's side window, and stated in a loud, clear voice, "You heard about the war, right?" then, without warning, began to violently strike the officer in the face with a closed fist. While still seated, the officer immediately returned closed-fist strikes to the suspect's face, attempting to fend off the attacker while radioing for assistance. The suspect fled on foot into the parking garage, where back-up units found him scaling a fence in an attempt to escape. Using verbal commands and empty-hand control tactics, officers struggled to apprehend the male while he violently and physically resisted arrest and yelled, "You are all doomed, and you're going to die. They told me to do this." Officers were eventually able to handcuff and take the suspect into custody.

The officer was taken to a local hospital for treatment; he's since been released.

Andrew Bowman, 23, was charged with assault and battery on a police officer causing injury, disorderly conduct, trespassing and resisting arrest.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

Correct age, name, town. I don't want anyone falsely accused, just asking if anyone has more info.

http://www.everettindependent.com/2009/10/13/bowmans-blocked-pat-helps-e...

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Given Everett's relative emphasis on citizenship, quality education, and football ...

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I'm not a doctor, but that sounds like possibly schizophrenia.

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Or self-medicating with alcohol/drugs for the crazy. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.

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When will by-standers learn to film with their phone sideways in landscape mode...

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I thought the same thing but I think this is someone filing survillence video playback on a monitor.

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> the officer immediately returned closed-fist strikes to the suspect's face

This troubled young man is very lucky.

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Click on the "reported" link in the original post, scroll down for Commissioner William Evans's comments, which include this:

This officer displayed incredible restraint, defending himself without the use of a baton, pepper spray, or deadly force, even though the situation may have warranted it.

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And proportionally. Pretty much did the same thing I would do if punched by a psychotic person. Not sure what stretch of the imagination would envision deadly force being warranted here.

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I can imagine a scenario where someone is beat to death. Which happens, and thus deadly force would be warranted.

Luckily we have the best police department in the country, and they didn't take as far as they could have. This could have easily gone very badly for the officer, don't dismiss that. He could have been gravely wounded.

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A police officer probably keeps it well in mind that the piece they have on their belt is a liability and a risk to the public if he/she is incapacitated and no longer has control of the weapon--so the weapon will be used before things escalate to that level. You're nuts if you think that a cop (or anyone visibly armed) is going to soak-up punches from a crazy person and laugh it off.

The kid is lucky that he didn't get ventilated within 3 seconds.

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An instance where this guy strikes you well enough that's it's becoming too difficult to defend yourself and you risk being knocked out. Once the cop is unconscious he no longer has direct control over his firearm, and the suspect can take it and now do more damage.

Can't say that this was his intention or even if the guy is of sound mind, but I'm sure it was going through the cops mind during the fight.

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It's hard to know what to make of Evans' statement. I do know, however, that as a taxpayer, generally I want police officers to use the tools and resources that are available to them as the situations warrant.

The way Evans writes about this, it's as if the officer is giving the attacker some kind of a break. Why? All I can imagine is that other factors (not reported anywhere) were in play.

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It's hard to know what to make of Evans' statement.

You seem to understand it as I do, in your second paragraph:

The way Evans writes about this, it's as if the officer is giving the attacker some kind of a break. Why?

Because, the officer could have beat the perp's face to a bloody pulp (or worse) with is baton or used another weapon to defend himself, and would have been completely justified.

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We all know that you want the police to shoot and kill and maim anybody that you don't like.

Which is probably why you are not a cop.

The cop decided what the situation warranted. He thus did not go for his gun (perhaps because it could be taken and used on him or others, or because of bystanders, or reaching for it would put him at a disadvantage). It could have been a set up, too. He didn't grab pepper spray (maybe because reaching for it would interfere with the punching and it could blow back on him at close quarters and awkward angle). He instead radioed for help - the most statistically certain way to deal with the situation and get the guy contained in an area with quite a few people around.

Boston seems to be doing a pretty good job in training officers to use the options they have to achieve the results they need without getting themselves killed and killing people. If you want bodies and blood, go see the Hateful Eight.

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Wow. Very insightful and spot on comment.

Thank you for being rational and logical about this. Any cop will tell you: the most critical component on our duty belts is the radio.

When I read comments like this, it makes me strive to be the utmost professional. It's important, I think. So thank you.

Sincerely,

A Boston Cop.

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Is that one of the gun cars (black SUVs) that BPD has? Can't really see it in the video.

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