Bike path assaults shake square

New policing system leads to quick arrests

A street performer makes music on a recent Friday evening in Davis Square, where police have increased community efforts. (Evan Richman/Globe Staff)

The proverb says bad news comes in threes. But on Aug. 14 in Davis Square, trouble came in twos.

In a neighborhood known for its restaurants and lively street life, two alleged assaults against people on the Minuteman Bikeway that evening reawakened concerns over safety in the area.

Paradoxically, though, the handling of the incidents might be a sign that the Police Department's community policing plan is, so to speak, on the right path.

According to the police report, six or seven men started yelling at David Nunez as he walked on the bike path to the Davis T stop. Then they hit him on the back of the head, demanded his money, and hit him again "hard enough to bend his glasses." Nunez took refuge inside the station as the suspects continued yelling at him from outside.

In the second incident, three teens boxed in another teenager on the path and stole his iPod.

Additionally, a tipster reported that people were drinking on the bike path near where Nunez was attacked.

Police also were called to two fights at Redbones barbecue restaurant that night, but police spokesman Gerry Reardon said they weren't related to the bike path incidents.

Nunez's experience generated much discussion on the Davis Square LiveJournal group, with some posters expressing concern about safety on the path.

One wrote: "A few weeks ago a bunch of guys on the bike path started yelling obscene things . . . at me when I was walking home around 9 p.m."

Wrote another: "I won't be walking down there after dark anymore."

In the nonvirtual community, some residents avoid the path at night, though in general, walkers on a sunny Sunday considered the spot safe during the day.

"If it's late at night, I usually walk around on the other streets," said Donnie Charlesworth, 24, who visits often from Haverhill, but "I've never had any trouble on the bike path at all."

"Historically it's got a tough reputation, but I'd say that's changed," said Jeff Hansen of Somerville, 30, in Lexington Avenue Park, the scene of clashes between newer residents and graffiti-spraying youths a few years ago.

In some parts of the path running east from Davis Square there are no outlets, he said, so "if you're in trouble, there's nowhere to run."

No one interviewed had heard about the Aug. 14 incidents. The Police Department sometimes sends out neighborhood alerts via the city's Connect-CTY information hot line.

It didn't in the case of the T stop incident, said Police Chief Anthony Holloway, because "the following day we had information on the suspect."

Police arrested Matthew Galvin on Aug. 18 and Steven O'Brien on Aug. 19 on warrants for assault and battery and attempt to commit armed robbery.

For the iPod theft, police arrested a suspect after the victim tracked the assailant down on MySpace.

Holloway attributed the speed of the arrests to community policing.

In the new system, officers will be assigned to particular areas of the city - two per area per shift. A task force led by former attorney general Scott Harshbarger recommended the changes in 2005; Holloway's experience with community policing in Florida is a significant reason he landed the police chief job last year.

The department moved a few of its officers to the new system July 7, including the Davis officers. Come Sept. 14, the entire officer force will switch over. The transition will be complete in January.

The result this month was to double the number of officers patrolling Davis Square and the bike path.

"Before, the officers only patrolled the path when they had a chance. . . . This concept puts you in your neighborhood the whole time," he said. "You know where the kids are hanging out."

When Nunez's report came in, Holloway said, the officer knew exactly who the kids were. She tracked down information that led to the arrest, Holloway said.

Ward Alderwoman Rebekah Gewirtz said she thinks Davis is generally "a very safe place [with] periodic episodes" of wrongdoing. She called the alleged assault "very troubling."

"I have long been a proponent of increasing lighting" on the path, with light poles numbered and marked with a phone number to report outages, Gewirtz said.

She also pointed to a Davis Square neighbors group that held a meeting with the police chief and started a crime watch listserv in the spring: watch@vecna.org.

Holloway said these were the only two incidents on the bike path he'd heard about recently. Still, after discussing the safety concerns at a Police Department meeting last Tuesday, the department decided to number the light poles and consult with the Department of Public Works about trimming back vegetation.

They also increased police patrols on the path again.

There's "coverage now seven days a week, anywhere near 10 to 12 hours a day," Holloway said.