I-Team: Man Involved In Fight With Off-Duty State Trooper Calls For Justice
BOSTON (CBS) – The I-Team has uncovered new video and spoke exclusively to a man involved in a fight between an off-duty Massachusetts State Police trooper and a group of people in Boston.
The man, who did not want to be identified, tells WBZ-TV it all started on the dance floor of a Boston nightclub. He said he and his female friends accidentally bumped into the off-duty trooper who sources say was with several other off duty troopers at the club. That altercation led to punches being thrown and hours later a fight on the street.
New video appears to show the off-duty trooper putting a woman in a chokehold and punching a man in the face outside the nightclub. "I didn't realize that he was an off-duty state trooper fighting women," the man told the I-Team. "That's the only reason why I got involved. He punched my friend in the chest, pinned one against the wall and choked another one out. You can see it all on video. And then he came back and hit me."
But at one point in the video, it appears the women and the man are the aggressors. The man involved admits, "you can see us wanting to fight but it was just a lot for one man to do all that."
Sources tell the I-Team there are several other off duty troopers in the video. The off-duty trooper wearing a red plaid shirt, who is the focus of the group's anger, appears to be choking a woman from behind in the video.
Another woman, who sources say is also a trooper, throws the man to the ground. "She separated us and grabbed me to the floor. Three men came over and then pinned me down to the floor and then that's when he came over to hit me three more times," the man told WBZ.
The man who was punched, says he filed a report about the incident with the Boston Police. "I do want there to be justice. We do want to see him fired," the man said. "A police officer should not be acting like this on or off-duty or a man in general."
Boston Police said detectives are investigating the incident and the State Police say the trooper involved in the assault has been relieved of duty and has a duty status hearing Friday. Sources say that trooper has only been on the job about a year.
