NEW ENGLAND IN BRIEF
Man, 37, dies after falling at plant
MIDDLEBOROUGH
A 37-year-old man fell to his death yesterday at the Ocean Spray plant in Middleborough, according to police Officer Ronald Costa. The man appeared to be painting when he tripped on movable stairs and fell 12 feet to a cement floor around 11:30 a.m., police said. He was transported to Morton Hospital in Taunton, where he was pronounced dead. The man was identified by a hospital official as Alcides Dasilva Baptista. Baptista was from Rhode Island, according to Fox 25. The event is under investigation by Massachusetts State Police and the Occupational Safety Councils of America, according to police.
Braintree
Girl, 14, severely injured in dog attack
A 14-year-old girl was severely injured when she was bitten by a Great Dane yesterday on Pearl Street, according to a Braintree Fire Department official. The girl, who was visiting her mother from Maine, was watching television around 5 p.m. when she bent forward and the dog attacked, said Lieutenant Jim O'Brian . "He had her whole head in his mouth," O'Brian said. The dog was restrained by animal control personnel and taken to the Braintree Animal Control Center. The girl was transported to Boston Medical Center. According to O'Brian, the dog did not appear to be rabid and had no prior history of biting.
New Bedford
Two officers receive national award
Two police officers who were first on the scene and wounded after responding to an emergency call at the Foxy Lady nightclub in New Bedford in December were given the Top Cops Award for Massachusetts by the National Association of Police Organizations yesterday in Washington, D.C., according to the organization's website. Officers Joshua Fernandes and Steven Wadman arrived at the nightclub shortly after 2 a.m. on Dec. 12 and found Scott Medeiros carrying a high-powered rifle. Medeiros fired on the officers as they approached in a cruiser. Wadman suffered wounds in his arms and hip, and Fernandes's cheek was grazed. Despite his injury, Fernandes drove the cruiser 2 miles to St. Luke's Hospital . Medeiros had shot and killed two men inside the club before killing himself.
BUXTON, MAINE
Body found in Saco River to be autopsied
Several teenagers found a body floating in the Saco River in Buxton just before midnight Friday , police said. The body, which appeared to be female, was sent to the state medical examiner's office in Augusta for an autopsy and identification, police said. Police refused to speculate on whether the body could be that of Coreen Faye Wiese, a 15-year-old who vanished near Buxton on Nov. 8. The Buxton teen went missing near a bridge over the Saco at the Standish-Limington town line. Two days after Wiese's disappearance, searchers found her cellphone and MP3 player on a steel I-beam underneath the bridge.
BOSTON
Officer shoots woman in leg in Dorchester
A Boston police officer shot a woman in the leg yesterday shortly before 11 a.m. in Dorchester. The woman had waved a knife and charged officers, said Officer Sharon Dottin, a police spokeswoman. The shooting occurred outside a Talbot Avenue residence , close to Our Saviour's Lutheran Church. The woman was brought to a local hospital for treatment. Dottin said she had no information about her condition. The officer was brought to a hospital for a routine evaluation. Police did not identify the wounded woman or the officer yesterday. The shooting is under investigation, Dottin said.
Organization plans anticrime conference
A group of women from Boston neighborhoods most affected by violence, Moms With a Mission, says it will hold a conference in late June on ways to prevent crime. About 75 women from Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan met yesterday with state Senator Dianne Wilkerson to plan for the Women's Peace Summit, on June 28. The group will discuss, among other things, ways to stem the flow of illegal drugs and weapons and how to create more neighborhood programs, according to Joyce Ferriabough, spokeswoman for the group.
MASSACHUSETTS
Volunteers spruce up parks across state
Volunteers statewide spent nearly eight hours yesterday sprucing up at least 50 parks and beaches for Park Serve Day, said a Department of Conservation and Recreation spokeswoman, Wendy Fox. About 500 volunteers and members of organizations, such as the Student Conservation Association, joined in the cleanup. According to Fox, the participants worked from early morning to midafternoon, clearing hiking trails, picking up litter, planting flowers, and painting park buildings at locations from the Berkshires to Cape Cod. 