John Ruch
FOREST HILLS—A drunk driver who caused a three-car accident on April 11 attacked responding police officers with a cane, then punched a cop who leaped inside his SUV to stop him from fleeing, according to the Boston Police Department (BPD).
Angel Otero, 32, of 52 Pinedale Road in Roslindale, was arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; assault and battery on a police officer; resisting arrest; and operating under the influence of alcohol, according to a BPD incident report obtained by the Gazette.
Otero was held on $10,000 cash bail, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Otero does not have a listed telephone number. His attorney of record, Samuel Higer, did not return a Gazette phone call for this article.
Officers originally responded to a report of an SUV traveling at high speed on Centre and South streets towards the Forest Hills T Station at around 10 p.m. When they finally caught up, they found the SUV had crossed onto the wrong side of the road and crashed into two other vehicles at South and New Washington streets under the Casey Overpass.
As officers and firefighters tended to the scene, Otero allegedly hit a BPD superintendent with a bronze-colored cane. Firefighters pulled the cane out of Otero’s hand, according to the BPD report.
Otero allegedly then sat down in the driver’s seat of his SUV, started the vehicle, and shifted it into drive. Officer Patrick Wood of the local E-13 Police Station jumped partway into the SUV, shoving the brake pedal down with one hand and trying to put the vehicle into “park” with the other.
Otero allegedly then screamed, “Kill me! Fucking kill me!” and punched Wood several times in the back while stepping on the gas pedal. The SUV lurched forward and allegedly almost struck another police officer. Two BPD officers and a State Police trooper then removed Otero from the SUV as he “violently resisted,” according to the BPD report.
Otero faces two separate charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, with the cane and the SUV considered as weapons. Officers confiscated the cane as evidence.