Boston Police: Officers Were 'Surrounded And Assaulted By Hostile Crowd' While Making Arrest

BOSTON (CBS) -- Boston Police Commissioner William Gross says he's alarmed by an alleged incident involving officers and a "hostile crowd" Tuesday evening. The department said in a statement that officers were "surrounded and assaulted" by the crowd.

It happened at about 5:40 p.m. in Roxbury in the area of Humboldt Avenue and Crawford Street. Police said officers were responding to a call for a person carrying a fanny pack containing a gun, and stopped a man carrying a fanny pack.

The statement from police said that because there was a "large crowd" in the area, officers tried to get control of the suspect's hands. The suspect allegedly then "grabbed the officer's wrist and began squeezing it."

Police said the suspect continued to resist arrest and caused a police body camera to be knocked off an officer. The crowd grew and someone opened a fire hydrant, "causing a heavy flow of water pressure onto the street directed at the officers," according to the statement.

Someone also threw buckets of water at officers while they tried to put the suspect into a cruiser, police said.

"I'm alarmed by the level of hostility my officers had to face while arresting a felon armed with an illegal firearm. They were attacked by members of the very same community they were attempting to protect by affecting this arrest," Gross said in a statement. Public safety is a shared responsibility, we need to continue to work together, not in opposition towards one another, to achieve that goal."

Police recovered a loaded revolver and charged 44-year-old Jermaine Thomas, of Mattapan, with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and resisting arrest. He's expected to be arraigned in Roxbury District Court.

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