Man charged with attacking 2 Newton police officers during 911 call
NEWTON — Two Newton police officers are recovering after being attacked by a man accused of domestic violence.
The officers responded to a domestic violence 911 call on Watertown Street Saturday night where they found the suspect and victim. After separating the two, police say the suspect turned on the officers.
The confrontation happened after the officers attempted to make an arrest.
"He began to punch the officers," said Newton Police Chief John Carmichael.
"The individual was brought down onto the ground at some point he punches an officer in the side of the head," said Carmichael. "During that struggle tried to remove the officer's firearm from the duty holster."
The man, who has not been identified because it was a domestic violence case, was handcuffed but police said he tried one more time to take an officer's gun.
The chaos finally ended with the suspect behind bars and both officers injured with one of them suffering a minor concussion.
Chief Carmichael and Mayor Ruthanne Fuller stood with officers Sunday showing support for their colleagues.
"They took the brunt of the violence," says Mayor Fuller.
WBZ-TV security analyst and former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said domestic violence calls can be incredibly dangerous.
"Domestic violence cases are one of the most frequent calls you can get as an officer," he said. "There's no question domestic violence cuts across socio-economic levels and we find it everywhere,"
"If there's an individual who is easily using violence against two trained and equipped police officers, can you imagine what the spouse was going through in that situation before she called police?" he continued.
The man was charged with two counts of assault and battery on a police officer as well as two counts of attempting to disarm police and resisting arrest.
He is due in court Monday.