Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog
Young Omar B., 17, (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) is a lad from Hyde Park in Boston. Saturday, he was driving in Dedham. He had a bit of an adventure. His adventure has not fully ended yet. It has transformed into a criminal justice adventure as learned on Monday, in court, needing a lawyer.
The adventure involved a wrestling match with a police officer, according to the Commonwealth. It was apparently not a solo match, though. He was part of a team.
His partner?
His mom.
Lt. Det. Francis Bielawski was directing Dedham Mall traffic at 1:30 p.m. when a car driven by the Defendant, failed to stop until it was in the intersection of Incinerator Road and Washington Street, police said. The traffic violation is, as yet, unknown.
Bielawski pulled over the Defendant, who was talking on a cell phone, and discovered the youth only had a learner’s permit and was alone in his mother’s car, said Lt. Robert Nedder. The law does not allow a person with a learner’s permit to drive alone.
When a tow truck arrived to take the car, Bielawski and Officer Richard Cawley asked the Defendant to step out, but he at first hesitated, Nedder said.
Bielawski returned to direct traffic, and Cawley went back to his patrol car. The tow truck operator, however, said the Defendant would not give him the car key, and when Cawley asked him for it, the Defendant yelled, “No, I’m on the phone. You are not towing the car,” Nedder said.
As we have many times reviewed, police officers just love having their authority challenged in the field (not). Apparently not a daily reader, the Defendant then swore and announced, “I’m going to smack you,” when Cawley asked again.
The Defendant pulled away from Cawley and then?
“They get into a little bit of a wrestling match,” Nedder said.
During the match, a woman grabbed Crawley and told him to leave her son alone, Nedder said.
It was mom.
Cawley told the mother to step back. She said she was pregnant and that Cawley could not touch her, according to Nedder.
Other officers arrived and pulled the mother away, allowing Cawley to handcuff the Defendant.
Cawley injured his knee slightly, Nedder said.
The Defendant was awarded for the match with charges of Massachusetts assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, unsafe operation of a vehicle, and a learner’s permit violation. The ceremony, Arraignment, was held in Dedham District Court. The Defendant paid a membership fee of $150, bail, to allow him to go home.
He is due back for a pretrial hearing March 10.
Nedder said that the Defendant’s teammate, mom, will be charged with assault and battery of a police officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Attorney Sam’s Take:
Well, it is nice to see families sticking together. So close to Valentine’s Day, too.
Back to reality, though, if the charges are true, we may be getting an idea as to where the Defendant got the idea that engaging with the police is a not such a bad idea. Now both mother and son will get a lesson that I have been trying to tell readers every weekday on this daily Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog.
Yes, it is illegal for a youth with a learner’s permit to be driving alone. Therefore, even if the police did not immediately charge the Defendant (which is not clear at this point), the car would have to be towed because he would not be allowed to drive it home. What was likely happening here is that the mother was on the way down to take care of that and drive it home herself.
If such was the case, it would have been wiser for the Defendant to calmly explain that to the officers, who were probably already a bit peeved at being continually put on “hold” while he spoke on the phone. Teenagers, you know.
However, calmly explained or not, if the officers’ response was “no”, then the answer is “No.” They are in control. Fighting with them about it is not a good idea because it only leads to arrests, injuries and additional charges that were not there before.
While it is nice to see a mother sticking up for her son, perhaps another approach would have been better. Maybe trying to calm the situation, or appealing to her son to stop resisting would have been in order rather than physically assaulting the officer, using pregnancy as a potential shield.
In any event, we do not know exactly what happened here, and I would suspect we have a couple of “Not Guilty” pleas pending in court.
So, take it as fact or fiction…but the message is still the same as always.
When the police approach you in a situation like this, do not engage them. Do not flee from them. Do not threaten them.
Quietly comply and call an experienced attorney as soon as possible to enforce your rights. Your attempt to do so in the field are unlikely to succeed.
The full article of this story can be found at http://www.wickedlocal.com/dedham/news/x785970102/Son-mom-charged-with-assaulting-cop
