National Motorists Association
Massachusetts Page

February 1, 2005
Springfield MA police commission voted yesterday not to pursue disciplinary action against five officers accused of beating a school principal as he suffered a diabetic attack. The 3-to-2 decision, reached after three hours of deliberation, has no bearing on the federal lawsuit filed against the officers by Douglas Greer, principal of the Robert M. Hughes Academy Charter School. "It was a case of misunderstanding," said police commission chairman Timothy Ryan. "The police officers had no reason to know or appreciate Mr. Greer's condition." Greer claims he started to feel disoriented after pulling his BMW into a convenience store parking lot in November. A store clerk called the police after noticing that Greer's car had been parked for a while. Greer, who is black, says the white officers broke his car window, pulled him through the opening, and kicked and choked him after accusing him of being on drugs. The officers will return to outside duty within a week, said Ryan, who voted against taking disciplinary action.

Back in December 2002, a driver was weaving in the eastbound lane of Hartford Street in Natick when police pulled him over. Two drivers on cellphones reported that a man in a Lincoln Town Car had crossed the center line, run up onto the sidewalk, and eventually bumped into one of the callers' cars at the Speen Street intersection.

The driver of the car turned out to be a former Natick police officer, whom Natick police chose to drive home rather than arrest. The police officer who was reprimanded because he should have had the man arrested says the police chief singled him out because of his involvement with the labor union.

Meanwhile over in Needham, a fire official and a police officer ended up fighting, after the police stopped the fire official's son on drug suspicion. "I thought you're one of us!" yelled the fire captain at the cop when he arrived in his official fire captain car. A fist-fight ensued. The town put both men on a temporary leave - paid, of course.

A Waltham cop was also placed on paid administrative leave on April 7, 2004, after being arrested on a charge of drunken driving. The 16-year veteran was arrested at 12:03 a.m. after driving into a street sign on Lexington Street while off duty. He was arrested when the officer answering the accident call realized his co-worker was under the influence of alcohol, police said.

State Representative Paul L. Kujawski of Webster, a member of the leadership team of House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, was arrested late Thursday and charged with drunken driving, open and gross lewdness, and disorderly conduct, after several motorists phoned police and reported that his car was being driven erratically, State Police said yesterday, August 20, 2004.

In 2001, he was fined $10,000 by the state Office for Campaign and Political Finance for spending $20,000 from his political account on items that were not campaign-related, including Red Sox tickets, business suits, furniture, and personal credit card bills. At the time, Kujawksi said he was guilty only of poor record-keeping, not intentionally subverting campaign finance laws.