Boston Police Arrest Driver Wanted For Hitting, Dragging Officers
BOSTON (CBS) – Boston Police have found the driver who they say dragged two officers and hit two others in Dorchester early Wednesday morning.
Vincent Weaks, 34, of Roxbury, was arrested on Greenwood Street in Roxbury nearly ten hours after the incident.
He'll be arraigned Monday in Roxbury District Court on four counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
It all began around 12:50 a.m. when police were called to Stoughton Street for a report of a person with a gun.
When they found a parked car fitting the description of a vehicle they were looking for, officers approached it and ordered the driver to get out. Instead, police say, he sped off.
"Two officers began to struggle with the suspect, one on the driver's side, the other on the passenger's side as they tried to take the keys out of the ignition and gain control of the suspect's hands," police said in a statement late Wednesday morning.
"The suspect was able to get the vehicle in gear and accelerate away, dragging the officers with him as he fled. Two other officers who were coming to their aid were also struck by the front of the vehicle, causing them to fall to the ground. After about twenty feet, the two officers who were being dragged were thrown from the vehicle and landed on the street."
Police commissioner Evans: "I can't say enough about the restraint our officers used in not shooting at that vehicle" in #Dorchester
— Carl Stevens (@carlwbz) November 23, 2016
The four officers were taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital where they were treated for what police said were a "variety of non-life threatening injuries."
Commissioner William Evans said the most serious injury was a fractured elbow.
"I've got to commend the officers. They used tremendous restraint. In a lot of places officers would have fired when their lives were in danger like that. So I've got to give them credit.
Police chased the car up Columbia Road, but lost it on Draper Street. They found it several hours later, but there was no sign of the driver.
Weaks is known to police, as he has been arrested three different times in the past 11 years on a variety of drug, weapon and assault charges.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Ben Parker reports