Worcester Father Carlos Betancourt Accused Of Swinging Knife, Then Baseball Bat At Teen Lifeguards
WORCESTER (CBS) – A father in Worcester is accused of trying to stab one lifeguard and trying to hit another with a baseball bat in a violent outburst Wednesday.
Police said 42-year-old Carlos Betancourt went to the Lincoln Village pool house on Country Club Boulevard around 5:30 p.m. to confront two lifeguards after they asked a group of teens to leave.
Bettencourt stood quietly as he was arraigned in Worcester District Court Thursday, with prosecutors laying out what he did to a group of teenaged lifeguards.
"He waved a knife at, trying to strike a 17-year-old lifeguard. He then seized a 15-year-old lifeguard taking a picture of his license plate and swung the bat at her," said prosecutor Roberta O'Brien.
Betancourt's child was one of the teens kicked out of the pool area because they weren't listening to the lifeguards.
Investigators said Betancourt then smashed the front glass door of the pool house with the bat and took off.
Police tracked him down and arrested him.
"He does have prior history. You can see he has weapons of choice, bat and knife, in the past convictions on his record," said O'Brien.
Betancourt is charged with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and vandalism.
The lifeguards were back on the job Thursday, seemingly unfazed by the attack. But 11-year-old Frank Mesearos couldn't believe what had happened. He comes to the pool a lot, and knows all the lifeguards.
"I've known them for a very long time now, and I've never seen something like this happen before," said Mesearos.
And other residents of Lincoln Village couldn't understand why a grown man would attack young lifeguards.
"Those kids are kids. That adult shouldn't have went back and said anything," said one woman.
This is the second incident involving a lifeguard in Worcester this month. A 17-year-old lifeguard was stabbed at Bell Pond on the 4th of July after asking a group of people to leave for not following the rules.