New England in brief
Officer allegedly dragged, kills driver
July 20, 2009
- |
SWANZEY, N.H.
A police officer in Swanzey, N.H., shot and killed the Massachusetts man who allegedly dragged him with his car, New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General N. William Delker said last night. At about 7 p.m. on Saturday, Corporal Robert Eccelston of the Swanzey Police Department pulled over Jeffrey E. Richardson, 24, of Northfield, who allegedly was driving erratically on Route 10. Officials said Eccelston approached the car, which had stopped in a parking lot at Edgewater Center, then was somehow dragged by the vehicle. As Eccelston was being dragged, he fired his weapon, shooting Richardson once in the left shoulder, Delker said. Richardson was pronounced dead at the scene, he said. Delker said officers from the New Hampshire State Police’s Major Crimes Unit are speaking to witnesses to determine where Richardson was coming from and where he was going. An autopsy was performed yesterday by the state’s chief medical examiner’s office in Concord, N.H., though results of toxicology tests - which would show whether Richardson was under the influence of any substance - could take several weeks, Delker said. Eccelston was taken to Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, N.H., with injuries that were not considered life-threatening and was released early yesterday.BOSTON
Woman found dead on train tracks
A Boston woman was found dead early yesterday on the commuter rail tracks near Highland Station in West Roxbury after apparently being struck by an inbound train Saturday evening, officials said. The woman, a 59-year-old resident of West Roxbury, was discovered, dressed entirely in black, lying across the tracks by a local resident at about 5:30 a.m., according to a statement from the Suffolk district attorney’s office. “The cause of death remains undetermined at this time, but State Police and MBTA transit police are investigating it as an apparent suicide,’’ said Jake Wark, spokesman for District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. Investigators believe she was struck by the last inbound train Saturday, which was departing from Needham Heights at 11:32 p.m.WEYMOUTH
Homeless man’s death called homicide
The death of a homeless man in Weymouth is an apparent homicide, according to a statement from Norfolk County District Attorney William R. Keating. At 9:20 a.m. yesterday, police found Ronald Pratt, 50, dead in a wooded area behind a building on Washington Street, officials said. Keating said Pratt suffered what appeared to be “lethal wounds from a knife’’ and said there were signs of an altercation. Police arrested Scott Steadman, a “person of interest’’ in the case, on a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon stemming from a separate incident yesterday morning, Keating said. Steadman, 45, is scheduled to be arraigned this morning in Quincy District Court. An autopsy on Pratt is scheduled for today.WOBURN
Suspect in Harvard death due in court
A New York City man charged in the killing of a 21-year-old man inside a Harvard dormitory is due in court to answer to murder and armed robbery charges. Jabrai Jordan Copney was indicted last month in the May 18 shooting of Justin Cosby. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court Wednesday. Prosecutors say Copney and two other men planned to get marijuana and rob Cosby. The men did not attend Harvard, though Copney’s girlfriend did. Blayn Jiggetts, 19, of Mount Vernon, N.Y., also has been charged. A third suspect remains at large. (AP)
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
